The End Of The World
by Lee Velviet
Summary: Ginny finally confronts Harry with her feelings in her fourth year-in the painful aftermath, she begins seeing Draco in a new light.*COMPLETE*
1. Default Chapter

**_The End Of The World_**

**Author:** Lee Velviet

**Disclaimer** - I own nothing! It all belongs to J.K. Rowling!

**A/N -** _Please note that this fan fic was written LONG ago, and there are many, many, MANY things that have been revealed in the newer books that weren't taken into consideration here. Please read on with an open mind! Also, please forgive the massive amount of lyrics here - I didn't remove them because those two songs really did inspire this fic. Thanks for reading!_

_This Chapter Edited/Revised 11/5/06_

* * *

_'Why does the sun go on shining?_

_Why does the sea rush to shore?_

_Don't they know it's the end of the world?_

_If you don't love me…_

_Why do the birds go on singing?_

_Why do the stars glow above?_

_Don't they know it's the end of the world?_

_I wake up in the morning and I wonder,_

_Why everything's the same as it was?_

_And I can't understand, no I can't understand,_

_Why life goes on the way it does._

_Why does my heart go on beating, why do these eyes of mine cry,_

_Don't they know it's the end of the world?' – Nina Gordon, End Of The World_

* * *

**Chapter One** - Grief

-

The straw that broke the camel's back, to use a Muggle term, came for Ginny when she couldn't stand keeping her feelings about Harry to herself anymore, during her fourth year at Hogwarts.

Hope and dread and impatience had bubbled up inside her like a cauldron left boiling too long, and finally, nearly biting through her lip with nerves, she cornered him at the door of one of the side entrances he used when going out for Quidditch practice.

As soon as she'd approached him, her face both pale and burning red at the same time, Harry had waved on Dean Thomas and the new Gryffindor team captain, Oliver Woods's younger brother, Quentin, and he'd frowned at her in concern, his intense green eyes patient as he waited for her to speak.

Ginny had found herself babbling almost incoherently about her feelings until she finally realized that his face was flushed almost as dark as hers felt, and she'd closed her mouth abruptly, looking at him in dawning horror.

He'd looked painfully embarrassed, and he'd kept running his hand through is already tumbled hair; a sure sign all was not well with Harry Potter.

She'd known then it had been a Whomping Willow-sized mistake to tell him what she had.

Red-faced and heart-achingly handsome in his worn scarlet and gold practice robes, he'd caught her arm as she turned to flee in total humiliation, and he'd cleared his throat, lowering the Firebolt from his shoulder and leaning it against the wall. He'd pulled her aside as other players moved out through the doors on the way to practice.

"Ginny…I'm sorry. I knew – I mean, Ron said - " He'd stopped and sighed heavily at the look on her face. "I'm not making this any easier am I?" His lopsided grin had made her heart soar for a moment, only to drop with a ear-piercing crack as he explained to her gently but firmly, that she was too young to know what she was feeling, that it was just a phase, he was just a regular wizard with mediocre scores who had a bit of skill at playing Quidditch, and had the misfortune to have been born on Lord Voldemort's bad side. He'd gone on to explain that he was her friend, that he'd be there whenever she needed him, that was all there was between them, and he wasn't really interested in a relationship with anyone at the moment anyway.

She'd wanted to scream at him that he was a liar - she knew he'd had an interest in the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang, and if she'd but winked at him he'd have been dragging at her robes like a lost house elf.

"I hope you understand, Gin." Harry had looked at her so fondly she could have almost tricked herself into believing he was lying, he really did love her - but she hadn't been that big of a fool since she'd found Tom Riddle's Diary.

"So…you want to come and watch me practice? Ron and Hermione are going to be there."

Ginny had felt an incredible itch in her hand to slap him. She'd stared at his friendly, flushed face, his encouraging, friendly smile, and sparkling green eyes shadowed by so many troubles and worries and dark secrets, and had felt her chest break open as surely as if she had been hit by the Veritas curse. He had no idea, she'd realized. He had no idea what she was feeling, and this warm gentle understanding and let down was somehow worse than if he had just rolled his eyes in disgust and annoyance and just stalked off.

She'd just stared at him, loving him more than ever for being so patient and kind, and sweet about it, and hating him - actually loathing him, for making her feel that way.

Ginny hadn't known what to say, she'd been so mixed up inside. She'd finally just forced a tremulous smile to her lips, brown eyes sparkling with hurt and unshed tears, and half shook her head, watching his face fall before she'd turned and walked away, not even knowing where she was going.

Mostly what she remembered that day was that she hadn't known it was possible to hurt that badly...

-

_'This is the place where I sit_

_This is the part where I need you too much_

_This is as hard as it gets_

_Because I'm getting tired of pretending I'm tough_

_I'm here if you want me_

_I'm yours you can hold me_

_I'm empty and faking_

_And I'm flat out breaking_

_Cause you don't see me_

_And you don't need me_

_And you don't love me_

_The way that I wish you would_

_I dream of a world where you understand_

_Well I dream of nothing on sleepless nights_

_I dream of fire when you're touching my hand_

_But it just fades to smoke when I turn on the lights_

_I'm speechless and faded_

_It's too complicated_

_Is this how the book ends_

_Nothing but good friends?_

_Cause you don't see me_

_And you don't need me_

_And you don't love me_

_The way that I wish you would_

_This is the place in my heart_

_This is the place where I'm falling apart_

_Isn't this just where we meet?_

_And is this the last chance that I'll ever get_

_I wish I were falling_

_Instead of just stalling_

_Crystal and see through_

_And not enough to you_

_Cause you don't see me_

_And you don't need me_

_And you don't love me_

_The way that I wish you would_

_The way I know you could…' - Josie And The Pussycats -_

_-_

It was now the beginning of her fifth year at Hogwarts, and she'd changed in the six months since that day - in more ways than one, and, she knew, not all of them good.

Ginny gazed into the mirror in the bathroom at the Burrow, wondering if she was really getting ready to leave for the train station or if she were just hiding until it was time to go.

She felt like she'd been hiding ever since Harry had shown up two weeks earlier to end the summer holiday with them.

She wished she could blame it on Déjà vu. She hadn't felt so quiet and shy around Harry since first meeting Harry at King's Cross over four years ago. Shyness, and Déjà vu had nothing to do with it unfortunately. She just simply couldn't bear to look at him, or hear his cheerful, husky toned voice.

Her hair needed brushing. She looked at the bristles tiredly. She didn't feel much of anything besides tiredness and annoyance anymore. She'd pretty much gone numb inside, since last year.

Examining her hair, she was conscious of the fact she hadn't cut it in over a year - it fell down to the small of her back, wild and red, curly and impossibly tangled. Her skin looked drawn and pinched, an odd gray pallor beneath her cold, flat brown eyes that had changed slowly to some boring hazel color, and the hollows of her formerly round, ruddy-hued cheeks. Not having spent a whole lot of time outdoors that summer had made her pasty, and she hadn't been much interested in food of late. Her Mum had had to take in her robes several inches, even as she'd had to let out the bust.

Her eyes felt tight and dry, and she closed them momentarily, savoring the semi-silence around her. It wouldn't last much longer. If only she could sleep, just once, a decent nights rest. Maybe she could find an empty compartment on the train to get some rest in - though that was about as likely as Harry Potter falling to one knee in the Great Hall and proposing to her at Hogwarts that year.

Ginny tried to smile at the thought, but her face was frozen in unhappy, tired lines.

A sharp knock sounded on the door, and Ron hollered rudely, "C'mon, Gin! We haven't got all day, y'know! We have to leave, now! The cars have arrived from the Ministry!"

She let her eyes drift in the mirror to the door behind her - she couldn't make her stiff lips form any sort of nasty, sisterly comeback - there just wasn't anything there to give at the moment.

"Okay," she managed, her voice rusty with disuse.

Ron snorted and she heard him move on down the narrow hall. There was a muffled thump and Ron howled, and then there were shouts from the end of the hall._ "Bloody hell, Harry!"_

She heard Harry laugh mirthfully, and the icy lump in her chest hurt suddenly, and she rubbed it absently. She looked back at herself, seeing a red flush high on her cheekbones, and she watched miserably for a moment before turning away and grasping the door handle.

_"Poor child,"_ she heard the mirror say sadly before she closed the door.

-

Ginny ended up seated between Harry and Ron in one of the Ministry cars sent to take them to the station by her dad. She'd rather have sat on the roof than beside Harry, but her Mum had been tired of the two boys picking and prodding at each other mischievously, and had made her sit between them. She had managed, however, to convince the two that she was utterly engrossed in the thick book on her lap, and they didn't bother her, chattering the whole way about the things all young wizards talk about - Quidditch.

Her nerves were about shot on this day, already. She managed to tune out Harry's distinctive voice almost completely, as she'd gotten rather good at doing it over the past six months. So that was why she started so when she looked up absently and saw Harry's green eyes looking at her questioningly.

"Well?" He asked, his brow creasing slightly.

Ginny cursed the breath that left her lungs upon her eyes meeting his again after so long avoiding them, and she shook her head, trying to look apologetic, but her face felt like it was carved out of wood. She knew she came off as looking cold and bored, but she couldn't help it.

"Er…sorry. What were you saying?" Sweet Merlin, even her voice sounded flat and impolite. She sounded like - Malfoy. She shivered.

Weakly moving her hands from it's death grip on the book in her lap, she rubbed the back of her neck under the fall of her hair and watched Harry and Ron exchange looks. Sighing inwardly she dropped her hand and wondered just what they were on about. She wished Harry would just repeat whatever he'd said so she could get back to the tedious job of trying to ignore his existence.

She looked through the car window and saw that they were finally entering London - thank Merlin it wouldn't be long now. Honestly, she would rather share a compartment with that prat Malfoy than spend another agonizing minute with Harry's leg brushing hers.

"I asked if you were feeling well," Harry finally said, his voice low and his eyes concerned.

Ginny had noticed that that was really only how he ever looked at her anymore, like she was a terminally ill friend to be pitied.

She hated him.

Pushing herself like she'd never done before, she forced a cheerful smile to her colorless lips and winked at him, though she knew her eyes remained quite empty. "Thanks, I'm fine, really. Just thinking about classes. I'm excited to be going back."

Ron rolled his eyes, looking at Harry as if to point out just how excited she _didn't_ look.

Ginny smiled at Harry reassuringly, like a good friend was supposed to, and turned back to her book, eyes stinging suddenly. The smile dropped off her lips and she closed her eyes briefly in relief. A heavier weight had settled onto her chest, making it impossible to breathe.

_'Think of Hogwarts,'_ she told herself tiredly. _'You can hide from him all year long; you'll hardly ever have to look at him.'_

Her stomach convulsed feebly at the sudden picture of Harry being surrounded by most of the female population of the school, not including the Slytherins or the teachers. Almost every female there had targeted him last year, and it had made her positively ill. Even though he'd told her himself he wasn't interested in a relationship with anyone.

That is except everyone but maybe Cho Chang.

The car stopped, and Ron got out, Harry getting out on the opposite side, and holding the door open for Ginny to get out.

Just thinking of the pretty asian girl made Ginny want to rip her heart out - she took a steadying breath and blinked, realizing there had been a loud crunching noise. She looked down and saw in her hand the door handle; she'd gripped it so tightly the shiny steel lever had snapped off cleanly in her hand.

She blushed when she saw Harry staring at her, eyes wide.

She managed to open her clenched fingers one by one and dropped the piece of metal to the floorboards. "Car's a bit shoddy, isn't it?" she remarked tonelessly, and pushed the door closed, looking up at the gray London sky.

-

TBC

-

_-The Veritas Curse belongs to Cassandra Claire._


	2. 2.Turning Point

**_The End Of The World_**

**Author:** Lee Velviet

**Chapter Two** - _Turning Point_

-

Ginny hugged her Mum tightly before she got on the train. She heard Ron mutter and protest loudly behind her when she grabbed both he and Harry in a quick hug and kissed their cheeks.

Not wanting them to ask her to sit with them, she waved at Hermione who was grinning excitedly, and passed her by as she heard the girl greet her old friends enthusiastically. Ginny headed straight for the back compartment, wishing she could put a locking charm on the sliding door. She stuck her head inside, relieved when she saw it was still empty, and dragged her heavy book bag in on the floor behind her. She slid the doors shut firmly, and closed the window shades completely against the bright mid-morning sunlight. She rested listlessly on the cushions, sighing heavily.

Only a few students wandered in after that, but when she told them rather crossly that the seats were saved for someone else they gave her odd looks but left her alone.

She didn't really care if she was being rude - she just wanted some peace and quiet, to be left alone to gather her thoughts a bit before being swallowed up by the craziness that was Hogwarts.

It seemed it was not to be, however, for as the train whistled its departure warning, there were heavy footsteps on the carpet outside the door and then it was flung open, a familiar, but much taller pale blond boy walked in and flung himself into the seat across from her, breathing heavily as if he'd been running.

He looked up just then, and two pale faces looked disdainfully at each other across the small, dim room, and two equally cold, bored, and overall disgusted voices said at the same time, "_You_."

Ginny turned her nose up at Malfoy and looked at him pointedly, putting as much impatience and dislike into her voice as possible. "What do _you_ want?"

He just narrowed his pale silver eyes and sneered, "Certainly nothing _you've_ got, Weasley,"

Ginny felt her cheeks burn and she snapped, "I wasn't offering, you evil little ferret!"

Malfoy's eyes widened briefly before he sat forward on the seat, his arms crossing. "This is my compartment, Weasel, it always has been. I _always_ sit here." His eyes glinted. "Besides, all the other compartments are full up."

"Not today," she muttered, tired of his interruption. Damn it all, she needed this time to herself in order to make herself act even passably normal around other people, namely Harry. The stupid, over-groomed prat across from her was making it near impossible.

"Shove off, Malfoy - maybe you can find a space in the baggage car next to Neville's toad or Ron's new rat - that _is_ where they're making us keep the rodents now, isn't it?" She watched him calmly from beneath hooded eyes; busy trying to make her body remember to breathe. She was honestly forgetting to take breaths. _Merlin_, she was tired.

Malfoy looked surprised at her comeback - she wasn't surprised though. Usually she just turned tail and rushed off when he was around, for fear of getting insulted with that sharp, cruel tongue, or worse getting in some kind of confrontation. She almost laughed. She'd _definitely_ changed. She could defend herself now, all thanks to Harry.

Ginny set her jaw as Malfoy stood, angry red slashes across the tops of his cheeks - which she noted with an odd, unidentifiable interest, were lean, all traces of baby fat having disappeared over the summer. He looked a lot different from last year, having shot up several inches and matured. She decided she didn't like this. It was kind of difficult insulting someone you barely recognized...

"Finally growing a backbone, eh, Weasel?"

...or maybe not. He might look leaner and taller, but he was still the same dirty little rotter with colorless, almost void eyes.

He smirked at her, an icy tone in his voice that implied a threat. "You better watch who you show it to."

Ginny closed her eyes and let her head fall back onto her seat. "Okay, whatever, Mal-Ferret. Stay if you must, just shut it, won't you?"

She heard him draw an angry breath and fall back into his seat with a huff. She squinted under her lashes at him and saw him glaring at he as the train began to move off.

An unwilling smirk tugged at her lips - just barely.

"You could leave, you know," he griped nastily.

Ginny kept her eyes closed, rolling her head on the back of her seat. "Nope," she said, and then lied lazily, "No more room anywhere, remember?"

He snorted derisively. "Yeah, right. Why aren't you in with the other Weasel, the Mudblood, and good Ol' Potty?"

She shrugged slightly, stifling a yawn, not bothering to rise to the bait. "They annoy me." She opened her eyes to slits and commented dryly, "But not near as much as you." She left it at that.

She closed her eyes again, peeking through her lashes at him, unable to help herself - his mouth at had fallen open and he was staring at her first oddly, and then suspiciously.

"Aww, don't tell me that the Gryffindor Dream Team has at last had a major falling out?" He mocked coolly.

She sighed in irritation, opening her sore eyes fully to look at him impatiently. "I was never part of the Dream Team as you call it, Malfoy. And before you accuse me of being bitter and jealous, and left out, I'll just say that no force in this world will make me talk to you about any of the details of my personal life, so just bloody be quiet or go ride on Crabbe's lap, wherever your toady henchman might be."

Ginny closed her mouth, realizing she'd just said more to him in one breath than she'd said to anyone since the school break began.

He glared at her murderously, and she simply closed her eyes again, trying hard to go to sleep. Was this day ever going to end? Could it get any worse than having to spend several hours with Draco Malfoy, biting each others heads off every ten seconds?

_"Ginny?"_

She groaned and fell over onto the long cushioned seat, burying her head face first. "What _now_?"

The door slid open and she heard several footsteps as Harry, Hermione and Ron shuffled in.

Ginny mentally swore, shooting Malfoy a scathing look as she sat upright. Although he'd done nothing, he smirked gloatingly in return. She watched him stand up, knowing he knew she had no desire to be left with her friends, and obviously deciding it was a fitting revenge for the Mal-Ferret jabs.

"Malfoy, what are you doing in here?" Ron asked at the same time as Harry.

The pale, blond boy smiled, moving around them to the door. "Having a delightful little chat with the littlest Weasel of course. She's just a _prize_, that one." he drawled, winking at Ginny evilly.

She clenched her wand in her hand just as he walked out, chuckling.

Ginny looked at the three people she loved most in life as the sat - of course, clueless Harry had to settle down on the seat next to her. She almost snapped at him.

"Why are you down here?" Hermione asked chattily, oblivious to the tension reeking in the air. "We saved you a seat with us."

Ginny once again forced a smile and shrugged. "Sorry, I was just feeling a bit tired. Thought I might try and grab a few winks, but I guess Malfoy nipped that, obviously."

Harry and Ron were still looking at her in concern.

Finally, she noticed Ron fidgeting - and he only did that when he was working up to something. "Gin, er…we all noticed you haven't been yourself lately…" he looked at her hesitantly, leaning forward to put his forearms on his thighs, and staring at his feet. "Well…Harry told us about -"

"No, you _didn't_." Ginny cut Ron off with a look at Harry that made him flinch and then look indescribably angry.

"I was worried about you," Harry said, voice clipped. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly, involuntarily making Ginny's heart ache.

_'He's really looking very guilty,'_ Ginny thought in wonderment. He had been thinking about her. But she hadn't wanted him to feel sorry for her, and this was just what that was. Damn it!

"I don't want or need your pity, Harry," Ginny muttered peevishly.

"Ginny, Everyone can tell something's wrong! You've been off your food for months, you don't talk, you don't sleep…you're making too much of this - "

"Shove off, Ron!" Ginny shouted, standing up. The anger she felt surprised her - lately all she'd felt was numb and cold and tired.

Harry and Hermione looked shocked, never having seen her in a temper before.

Ginny was pleased. Harry could take his guilt and pity and shove it where the sun didn't shine. He needed to get off it, and so did she. Oh, she still loved him more than anything, still felt as if she were dying off inside because he didn't want her or love her, but she was tired of his pity. Bloody tired of it.

"Ginny, I think you need to -"

"No, you have no idea what I need," Ginny said scathingly, cutting Ron off again. "It's really none of your business what was said between me and Harry last term." She glared at Harry who had stood and was glaring straight back, green eyes narrowed and blazing.

Her heart thudded fiercely before she said, "In fact, if I decided to _off_ my bloody self over this, you wouldn't have a say about it either! Because it's my life, and I'll spend it however the hell I want!" She ignored the sudden silence and stricken looks on all their faces before she looked at Harry coldly. "That's what this is all about, isn't it? You were scared I was going to kill myself over you?" She felt tears well in her scratchy eyes suddenly. "Poor little Ginny, all despondent and depressed and suicidal because Harry Potter didn't love her."

She made a disgusted noise and grabbed her book bag, striding across to the door. "I'm sorry, Harry. I'm so sorry I bothered you with this, I'm sorry you had to go home to those stupid, evil muggles who don't know what kind of treasure they have in you, or how they've thrown it away."

Her eyes watered and her voice became choked. "I'm sorry you lost your parents, and Voldemort's trying to murder you. I just wanted to love you, Harry, and take care of you, and I was an idiot, because I felt pity for you, when I was lucky enough to grow up with a family that loved me. Yes, it was a silly child's crush, but it became more than that…I don't even know why I'm trying to explain, I don't understand any of it myself."

She turned away. "Don't worry yourself Harry, my death won't be on your conscience because I'm not stupid enough to end my life over any boy. And besides, did you ever stop to think that maybe the reason I've been acting so weird and going through all these changes is because I'm growing up?" She whirled back on Harry, her tumbled red curls flying, not noticing the sudden spark of reluctant interest in his emerald eyes. "F.Y.I. Potter - everything is _not_ just about _you_!"

Ginny flung open the door, looking apologetically at Hermione who was looking confused and upset. She slammed the door shut behind her and took off down the narrow corridor almost knocking over Draco Malfoy who was loitering outside one of the compartments in her effort to reach the girls restroom before the tears blinding her scalded their way down her cheeks, and she threw up the bite of breakfast she'd had right there in the corridor.

When Ginny was finally alone, she cried like there was no tomorrow, swearing she'd never give Harry or Ron the time of day ever again.

Today she had acted like a creature to rival the likes of Draco Malfoy - and she was glad. No one was ever going to tread on her again. Her love for Harry would remain well hidden, hidden so deep she wouldn't even remember what she felt for him, because she couldn't take the pain of unrequited love a moment longer.

After she had calmed herself, she pulled out her wand, looking at it determinedly before pointing it at herself and whispering the memory charm she'd looked up and memorized weeks ago, but had never really wanted to try. Harry had been with her always even though he thought differently-he was just blind to her because he still thought she was a kid.

She sighed unsteadily, thinking momentarily that she might be able to-but no. She held her wand firmly and took a deep breath. No more hurting, Ginny, no more. She closed her eyes and focused on her first memory of Harry, grinning nervously as he asked her Mum how to get onto Platform 93/4.

_ "Excuse me, but could you tell me - "_

Ginny felt her head spin briefly as she repeated the charm, louder, and then everything went dark.

-

Ginny's head felt as if it was packed with squirming, squishy slugs. She opened her eyes unwillingly, as a wave of dread washed over her. Something awful had happened, she knew…but why couldn't she remember?

The first thing she saw was a white blob...no wait… "Malfoy?"

"Five points to the girl laying on the restroom floor," he drawled in a surprisingly well-done impression of Snape's dour, sarcastic tones.

Ginny's head felt heavy as she tried to rise, feeling a dull, knocking pound at either temple as if a Snitch were bouncing off them in turn, trying to get out. "W-what happened?" Her eyes were glazed, and she blinked, trying to focus more clearly.

She heard Malfoy snort. "Hell if I know. You almost ran me over in the corridor and then I heard a thud from in here - believe me, I wouldn't be running into the girls restroom without a good reason." He paused, stroking his chin thoughtfully as he leaned against the door. "Wait, what am I saying? Of course I would!"

Ginny made a sound of disgust and wavered, sitting down hard on her rear on the floor again. "You want me to believe you were actually concerned about me?"

He narrowed his pale eyes, raising an elegant white hand to brush his hair from his sight. "Concerned? I don't know…eager, is more like it. Never can tell when someone else's misfortune can become an opportunity for, well..."

"Blackmail?"

"Blackmail is such an ugly word." He studied his perfectly groomed fingernails boredly before looking down at her from beneath his lashes. "I prefer the term 'business transaction?"

"And to think I merely _disliked_ you before," Ginny scowled, forcing herself to her knees, which were trembling.

"You wound me, Weasel. Your opinion of me matters so." He sighed impatiently and reached down, grabbing her under her arms and lifting her up onto her feet. "Ordinarily I wouldn't touch you to beat you, but even you can understand, any self-respecting male would have a certain, er, reaction to a girl on their knees before them."

"Thank you for that oh-so disturbing visual, Malfoy," she said, disgusted. She yanked away from him to gather her wand and bag and slid open the door. She caught sight of Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson loitering outside, and an evil grin crossed her lips.

"Leave me alone, Mal-Ferret," she said in a loud voice, turning back to see his eyebrows shoot up. "I wouldn't go out with you to save my soul."

Malfoy's face turned dark red, making his white-blond hair stand out starkly, and a choking noise issued from his sputtering lips. "You -"

"Don't cry…" Ginny winked at him slyly before turning and walking away toward her compartment, hearing the two Slytherin girls gasping and leaving Malfoy standing in the door of the girls restroom making furious noises of disbelief.

Ron and Hermione looked startled when she walked in, and sat down; there was a new boy there too, one she didn't recognize. "Hi," she said, trying to sound friendly - she didn't feel much like herself, unfortunately, and it came out flat. She couldn't help it. The air was filled with tension, and it irritated her.

Ron narrowed his brown eyes at her as she flopped into the seat next to the tall, dark haired, bespectacled boy.

"What?" She sighed, twirling her wand in her fingers idly.

"You're just going to leave it at that? Throw all that into our laps and walk back in here, calm as a cucumber, and pretend nothing happened?"

The feeling of dread came on her again. "What are you talking about?"

Hermione looked at her oddly, disbelief in her eyes. "What are we talking about? Ginny, are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine!" Ginny snapped, thrusting her wand into the pocket of her black school robes. "I should ask the same of you two - looking at me like I was escaped from St. Mungos'. What's going on?"

Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances, and the cute green-eyed boy next to her cleared his throat. "Ginny, we're just worried about you, please don't be upset - "

"Who are you?" Ginny finally asked in exasperation. "Sorry to be rude, but..."

The boy's intense green eyes widened behind the thin round frames of his glasses, and he flushed, tugging at the collar of his shirt, before looking at Ron in desperation.

Her brother glared at her. "Ginny, stop treating Harry so badly - it's not _his_ fault you fell in love with him! I'm tired of this, I wish you'd just get over it! He doesn't like you that way!" He narrowed his eyes at Hermione when she punched his arm hard.

"You've all gone completely nutters! I don't love him!" She stood and gestured at the boy next to her wildly. "I don't even know him!"

-

TBC


	3. 3.Draco's Revenge

**_The End Of The World_**

**Author:** Lee Velviet

**Chapter Three** - _Draco's Revenge_

_-_

The Headmaster's office smelled of sweets and night air, and of the crackling fire in the stone hearth. Ginny sighed, swinging her feet in the too tall chair before Albus Dumbledore's desk. The ancient Wizard had been busily marking something in yellowed book when she'd arrived.

He put down his quill and smiled at her kindly. "Ah, Miss Weasley. I understand we have a bit of a problem?"

Ginny shrugged, trying desperately not to seem disrespectful. "I don't think so, sir. I just thought maybe Ron was pulling my leg."

Ron and the others had run straight to Professor McGonagall when they'd arrived at the castle - making Ginny miss the sorting ceremony, because she'd been sent Madame Pomfrey and then on to Dumbledore.

The headmaster's blue eyes twinkled in the candlelight. "You don't remember young Harry Potter, I believe?"

Ginny shook her head. "No. Everyone acts like I'm supposed to. I don't understand. I honestly thought Ron was pulling my leg, really. I'm utterly bewildered."

"No, no, I'm afraid he was not, "Albus said softly, and oddly Ginny felt some of the tension leave her body, making her relax slightly.

"So, this Harry Potter? He really did all of the things Ron said? He really saved me from Vol - erm, _You-know-who_?"

He nodded.

Ginny bit her lip, blushing slightly as she stared at her feet. "A-and I...well, Ron said…he said I…That I…" She looked at him. "He said I was in love with him."

"Er, well…" He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

Ginny blinked. "I didn't love him. I _know_ I didn't." She looked at Dumbledore almost desperately. "In fact, I-I think I may have disliked him rather intensely."

"There is a very fine line between love and hate," he said wisely.

She shook her head. "If what I'm feeling is akin to love, this Harry should think about running far from me."

The old Headmaster laughed.

"Madame Pomfrey told me that it was a memory charm that did his to me,"

"Yes, it does seem to be the most likely suspect."

"Who would do this to me, Professor? Why?"

Dumbledore sighed, clasping his gnarled heavily veined hands atop his desk. "I cannot answer; I do not know."

_Malfoy_. He'd been there when she'd come to on the floor. _Of course,_ she thought suddenly. _Why wouldn't he want me to forget Harry? He must be laughing his head off!_

She didn't tell her suspicions to Dumbledore, however. It would be far more satisfying to get back at him herself.

"Can the charm be removed?" she asked.

"Yes, but the risk, I fear, is far too great, the price that may be paid, far too dear. It could mean possibly damaging your mind. No, I think it's probably best to put this episode behind you and become re-acquainted with Harry. You were quite good friends in the past."

In the past…a feeling of hopelessness washed over her. No, she didn't want to go back to that. She nodded, managing a small smile before she got up to finally retire to the dormitory. "Thank you, Professor."

The walk back to the Gryffindor tower would have been a lonely one if it hadn't been for Sir Nicholas - or Nearly-headless Nick - following on her heels, floating along behind.

"I did hear what had happened to you," he said in his gruffly musical voice. "I think I shall stay near - Peeves has been in a state this eve, as it is the beginning of the new term, and I did have to chase him away from the first years as they arrived at the tower this evening."

"Thank you, Sir Nicholas." Ginny was rewarded with a ghostly smile. He preferred to be called that, but hardly anyone bothered. Sir Nicholas was the Gryffindor ghost, and as considered an oddity, as his head had never been quite completely severed when he'd been executed some four hundred years before.

Ginny walked along the dimly lit corridor and was indeed happy to have Nick's protection, such as it was.

Nick bowed when they arrived at the huge portrait of the fat lady in the pink dress, and left her with the new password - "Snitchnip!"

Ginny crawled through the hole and found herself face to face with the boy Harry.

"Oh, er, Hullo, Ginny." He stepped back from her; reaching up to adjust his glasses - a nervous gesture she was sure. "Is everything okay? Are you all right?"

Sighing, she stepped forward as the portrait closed gently but firmly behind her. "Yes, I think so…thanks for asking." There, another forced smile. She really was getting better at those.

Harry pushed a hand through his hair, and she found herself staring at the neat, raised white lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. It was true, all those stories…

"Ginny?"

She flicked her eyes down to his guiltily. "Sorry…it must be so annoying to have people stare at you like that all the time,"

He shrugged. "The first year was weird - but I'm sort of used to it now." He smiled at her crookedly. "Are you hungry? I got permission from Professor McGonagall to take you down to the kitchens to eat if you like, since both of us missed dinner." He waved a crumpled piece of paper in his hand.

The last thing she wanted to do was spend time with him, but something that warred within her finally won and made her say, "Sure, all right."

The grin that spread across his face was worth the part of that cursed and howled inside.

"Is everyone else in bed already?" She asked as they climbed back through the portrait hole.

"Yes, I think so."

They walked for a moment in silence before Ginny asked, "Why did you miss dinner?"

Harry was quiet for a moment before he answered truthfully, "I waited outside the Infirmary to see if you were all right."

Ginny found a bitter smile tugging at her lips, not quite knowing why. "That was thoughtful of you, Harry."

He blushed.

Ginny felt a cold rush across her chest, crashing with the warm fuzziness that had started to reside there. What was wrong with her?

"So, uh…do you really own an invisibility cloak?" She asked, changing the subject.

Harry looked over at her blankly before blinking and nodding. "Well, yeah. My Dad left it to me. But it's kind of a secret. Being able to sneak about and all requires a certain amount of discretion"

"Oh, sorry. Ron told me," she said apologetically.

"S'okay. You knew…before anyway. I trust you." He laughed suddenly. "Besides, if it's a secret in Hogwarts it means everyone here already knows anyway."

She laughed, and the feeling felt odd, as if she hadn't done it in a long time.

Harry looked at her oddly, too. She guessed she hadn't.

"I haven't been very happy for a while, have I?" She asked quietly as they began to descend the steps.

"No, I would guess not," Harry, murmured. He stuffed his hands in his pants pockets.

No more was said until they made their way into the kitchens, and Dobby the house elf met them ecstatically, after Harry tickled the giggling pear in the large painting in a lower hall, and it swung open.

Harry rolled his eyes at Ginny a bit as Dobby began bringing loads of food to a large round table in the center of the room, bowing and scraping and chattering excitedly about having the famous Harry Potter back at Hogwarts for another year.

"He really likes you," Ginny commented, taking a half-hearted bite of an apple.

Harry looked over at the tiny house-elves clattering about the cupboards and making a noisy racket. "Yeah. He's dangerous though. You have no idea what he put me through the summer before my second year at The Dursley's. I do like him, don't get me wrong." He laughed. "You should see what we give each other for Christmas every year."

Ginny frowned curiously before Harry stuck out a leg and pulled up the end of his trousers slightly. A striped green sock glared at her. "Interesting."

"No, see?" He stuck out the other leg. It had a red and blue polka-dot sock on it.

"You give each other mis-matched socks?"

Harry grinned leaning close. "Yeah, he loves them. I just wore these tonight so I wouldn't hurt his feelings."

Ginny giggled, putting a hand over her mouth. She couldn't imagine anyone else doing that for a house elf. It didn't really surprise her that Harry had taken the time to bother, though.

When Dobby came around again Ginny had to bite her lip to stop laughing-Dobby had on a pair of miss-matched socks as well.

By the time they got back to the Gryffindor tower it was very late, and Filch had about tackled them in the hall until he very sadly realized that they had legitimate permission to be about. He left them at the Fat Lady's portrait, walking away, stooped and bent, and muttering sorrowfully to a red-eyed Mrs. Norris.

Before Harry could say the password, Ginny put her hand on his arm and asked curiously, "What does Snitchnip mean?"

"Oh, it's a Quidditch thing - if anyone catches or touches the Golden Snitch before a Seeker, it's called Snitchnipping. Kind of an illegal move I suppose."

"Oh…" she watched as the portrait opened, and the Fat Lady snorted in her sleep slightly. Harry stepped through first, turning to help her through.

"Thanks," she said as the portrait closed behind them.

"Sure." He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but he just smiled and turned. "Goodnight, Ginny. Good luck tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Harry." She watched him disappear up the winding stone steps and sighed, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Cold, tired, and very confused, Ginny let herself into the fourth year girls dorm and found her bed, falling across it and into a deep, exhausted sleep.

The first day of classes, Ginny found herself to be the favorite topic of discussion among the students of Hogwarts. She heard her name being bandied about in the halls and dusty corridors as she walked by, felt the curious, measuring stares of hundreds of students on her skin as she passed from class to class.

Her bewilderment soon turned to resentment, and then from resentment to anger as the day wore on. Her moodiness was evident as she made her way to her least favorite and last class of the day - Snape's Potions.

She found herself glowering at a pair of first year Slytherins as they gawked at her while she passed, and had the satisfaction of seeing them turn away and quickly move off in the opposite direction.

Ginny entered the murkily lit dungeon, and ground her teeth as she spotted Draco Malfoy standing near Snape's desk, looking smug and superior - as per usual.

No surprise there.

_What is he doing there? He's a sixth year,_ Ginny thought darkly.

She ducked into an empty seat near the back, and watched disinterestedly as the class began to fill. There were more Slytherins there than Gryffindor's that year, and she felt the other Gryffindors' angst as they were forced to partner their enemy house.

The Slytherins weren't terribly happy either.

Ginny realized the seat next to her was empty - no one had wanted to sit next to her, not after her misfortune the day before. Just in case she was indeed cursed, of course.

Ginny felt hurt and largely hacked off as Snape stood at last to address the class. His face wore its usual sour, 'I bit into a huge lemon' expression, and unnatural pallor, and his long, ravens wing colored hair looked as greasy as ever.

She tensed as his piercing black gaze swept over to her and narrowed. 'Here it comes,' she thought bitterly.

"Well, well," Snape said loudly as his thin lips twisted cruelly, "it looks as if we have another Gryffindor star in our midst. Weasley, it doesn't look as if you have a partner this year. Indeed, one wonders why, if you are so terribly _popular_ of late."

Several Gryffindors looked at Ginny guiltily, while the Slytherins sniggered.

Ginny almost bit through her tongue holding back a less than appropriate response that she knew would have her in detention for a month, but couldn't stop herself glaring back at Snape stonily.

The man stared back in dislike before turning away and speaking to Malfoy in a low voice.

Ginny had the satisfaction of seeing Malfoy's smile drop, and he looked ready to vehemently deny whatever Snape had just told him, but a look from his teacher made him shut his mouth. Ginny was impressed - Snape had to be one of the only people able to make Draco Malfoy be quiet.

Malfoy walked past Snape, pulling his robes to one side as he passed the Gryffindors, as if not to sully them, and took the seat next to her, much to Ginny's horror.

She looked at him in cool dismay as he sat as far from her as possible.

"What's wrong, Malfoy? Did you fail Potions last year?"

He ignored her taunting whisper as Professor Snape began an outline of what they would be learning that term-or at least, trying to.

Later, as she was researching the ingredients needed for a simple pepper-up potion, Snape suddenly explained, almost as an afterthought, that Malfoy had become his teachers assistant that year, and since the class was of an uneven number, Malfoy would be partnering anyone left without one - at which time everyone turned to stare at Ginny and Draco, who both slouched in their chairs and turned their heads in opposite directions.

"Oh, joy," Ginny muttered, blowing a wisp of red hair out of her eyes, only loud enough for Malfoy to hear.

"I'd rather be plucking off my own fingernails with a pair of rusty pliers than sit here with you for the rest of the year, just so you know," the pale blond muttered from the side of his mouth as he began measuring out ingredients.

"Why bother doing it yourself when you have a perfectly willing partner beside you to do it for you?" Ginny hissed back vehemently.

Malfoy's pale, oddly colored eyes shot over to her fiercely, their opal-like, silvery iridescence glinting angrily. "Remember how I told you you've finally grown a backbone? Well, you'd best keep it to yourself if you don't want me ripping it out!"

She snorted, eyes narrowed. "Rip it out with what? Your ferret teeth?"

_"Weasley!"_

Her red curls tumbled into her eyes as she snapped her head back to the front of the classroom. Snape was glowering at her threateningly. She swallowed her ire - just barely - and looked back at her book, knowing it was odd that he hadn't taken points from Gryffindor.

The sneer she shot at Malfoy after Snape turned away was so fierce that another Gryffindor who saw it shivered and flinched.

Malfoy just smirked, pushing his hair back from his forehead.

When the hellish class finally ended, Ginny had to stay in her seat for a few moments while everyone else left - her knees were trembling and her breath came in jerky, short gasps, so intense were the feelings she was having.

The last to leave, she found her way blocked by Malfoy, who had draped himself lazily across the exit.

"Not you again," a hateful look was on her face.

He regarded her coldly. "I just wanted you to know, that little stunt you pulled on the train will not go unchallenged." He straightened, standing a good foot taller than her.

She looked up at him mockingly. "Really? And how are you going to do that?" _There's nothing more awful than what I'm already going through,_ she thought dully.

"You'll see soon enough," he said evilly, patting his pocket.

Rolling her eyes, she pushed past him, managing to tread heavily on his foot as she walked off. "Whatever."

"Ow!" He howled, "You little bitch!"

"Didn't know you'd noticed!" she threw back over her shoulder. "How observant of you!"

-

Ginny had been left with a very unwelcome thought. Draco Malfoy was indeed very good looking. Although she made disgusted noises and awful faces, she couldn't get the thought out of her head. His gleaming pale blond hair was striking, and his odd, opal colored eyes reminded her of those of a dragon she'd once seen in one of her brother Charlie's books. His skin was a white pallor, with an almost translucent quality, showing not a blemish, his thin, cruel looking lips washed pink with color, and his cheekbones high and sharply defined, with hollows beneath as if he too, could never quite make himself eat as much as he should.

Ginny shook herself as she made her way into the Great Hall to meet Hermione and the others for dinner. The face she made inadvertently caused some first years loitering near the doors to scramble away from her, and she was so lost in her troubling thoughts she didn't notice everyone staring at her as she swept through to her seat at the Gryffindor table with an eerie grace, her long red hair painted with gold from the thousands of floating candles and her black robes seeming to float along behind her.

"Traitor," she found herself muttering as she sat at the table next to Hermione. She put her chin on both of her hands and glared across at Malfoy who was smirking nastily at her from the Slytherin table. How could she think _he_ was good looking? _Mal-ferret_?

Ginny schooled her face into an uncaring mask and picked up her pumpkin juice. Finally, she noticed the Great Hall had become oddly quiet - she looked around and saw that several of the students had stopped chattering to stare at her.

Annoyed, she wondered what the big deal was. All she'd done was lose a few memories…right?

"Hi, Gin," Ron mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"Hi," she said with a sigh, and smiled across at Harry slightly.

"How was your first day?"

Harry and Ron scowled in obvious agreement.

Ginny held up a hand. "Stop right there - no further explanation is needed."

Harry grinned as he picked up a fork. "How was yours?"

Ginny turned up her nose. "It - and forgive me for saying this - sucked monkey balls to be perfectly honest, and I have two reasons - Snape, and Malfoy." She said this matter-of-factly as Hermione gaped at her and all the boys within hearing distance choked and snorted with laughter. "I have to put up with Mal-Ferret as a potions partner all year."

"Mal-Ferret!" This sent Harry and Ron into renewed gales, and even Hermione almost laughed.

Ginny's statement was passed all along the tables until everyone was sniggering and laughing, and Ginny saw Malfoy bend his ear to Victor Crabbe as he whispered something into it. She watched his cheeks flush in anger, and his head snapped up, narrowed eyes catching Ginny's, his lips pressed into a hard line.

She smiled at him sweetly.

He scowled threateningly.

"Why is Malfoy in a fifth year potions class anyway?" Ron asked, still chuckling. "Did he fail?"

"No, he's going to be Snape's assistant - the little rodent got himself a free period somehow, and the class is uneven, so_ I_ got saddled with him."

Harry shook his head ruefully, and took a long drink of his pumpkin juice. "No one deserves that. If it had been me, I'd already have detention for the whole year by now." He looked at Ginny, eyes twinkling. "You must have the patience of a saint."

Ginny ignored Ron's sudden snort and sighed. "I don't know how long it'll last, though. Oh, well," she said cheerily, poking at her food, "You'll know I've reached my limit when I come walking in here one night with Mal-Ferret's bloody, severed head."

"Ew, that's disgusting." Hermione shuddered, while Harry and Ron cleared their throats nervously and gulped some more juice.

As dinner began to wind down, Ginny noticed Harry watching her intently. She kept her eyes on her plate, however, feeling oddly nervous. When she did look up and catch his eyes on her, she quickly looked away, and found herself looking at Malfoy across the room. He grinned at her, one brow arching superciliously.

She frowned, looking back at Harry, and noticing a flush high on his cheeks, a fevered glint in his shimmering emerald eyes, instantly knew something was up.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione was already asking.

Harry stood up, coming around the table to stand behind Ginny - she looked at him, frowning, over her shoulder. A bolt of horror shot down her spine and she sent a withering look across the room at Malfoy, who was near howling with laughter.

Harry took her hand in his, making her half-turn, and fell to one knee.

"Harry, don't - "

"Ginny, I love you. Will you marry me?"

Half the girls in the hall sighed at once, slumping onto their hands, leaning on their elbows and over all melting.

Ginny almost swallowed her tongue.

-

_"I'll murder him!"_ Ginny shouted back in the Gryffindor common room, making everyone present jump and stare.

Harry was still on her heels as she began to pace, and that was bad enough, but what was worse was that he wasn't even looking stupid, stumbling after her mindlessly, acting like some lovelorn puppy. He looked handsome and dignified, and was acting like a mature, perfect gentleman. He watched her with concern. "Ginny, luv, don't be so upset - "

"Don't call me 'luv'!" Ginny snarled, still pacing like a caged animal. "You don't mean it."

Harry looked at her hopelessly, his heart in his eyes.

"Arrrgh!" She stopped her frantic movements and tried to smile at him. "I'm sorry, Harry, none of this is your fault." She fisted her hands. "Malfoy is going to pay, though, in a bad way."

Ron, who was caught between laughing hysterically and being totally pissed, said for the hundredth time, "I can't believe he actually put a love potion into Harry's drink."

"And there's no way to prove he did it, "Ginny bit off, talking through her teeth.

Harry pushed a hand through his hair, his voice unusually calm and steady for someone who was under a love spell. "Well, there's no doubt about that. Everyone knows he's been itching to do something. He covered his tracks well though - love potions are highly illegal. He obviously didn't want to get sent Azkaban. I wonder why he took such a chance, just to get at us."

Ginny shrugged guiltily. "It's my fault. He was getting back at me. I've been antagonizing him."

"Good idea, Gin, antagonize the son of a Death-Eater!" Ron snapped, throwing himself into a chair.

"Ron, you aren't helping. You now what she's been through." Harry said quietly, his eyes intense.

Ron scowled and looked over at Hermione, who was busy with her homework. "How long did Madame Pomfrey say it would take for this to wear off?"

Two to three days," Hermione said automatically, eyes skimming her parchment. "Maybe longer, depending on it's potency."

"Two to three days!" Ron made a face. "I don't know if I can take it- it's turning my stomach!"

"Shut up, Ron." Harry murmured, watching Ginny walk away over to the carpet before the fire and lower herself to it.

"I can't believe this!" Ron growled to Hermione, who was shaking her head.

Harry went over and sat next to Ginny, but wisely didn't try to touch her.

Hermione looked at Ron and jerked her head at the opposite side of the room.

He shook his head, unwilling to leave the two alone.

Hermione glared and jerked her head harder. He rolled his eyes and stood to follow her.

Ginny and Harry watched the flames in silence for so long that most of the students lost their interest and wandered off to bed.

Ron and Hermione sat on the other side of the room, playing wizards chess. Every now and then one of them would laugh.

At last Harry cleared his throat and said her name softly.

"Yes?" Ginny was too sleepy now to think. Her method of revenge against Malfoy would have to be decided on the next morning.

"I want to tell you - I mean, I want you to know, what happened between us."

Ginny felt her skin tighten in warning. A now familiar feeling of dread curled across her chest. "I really don't think I want to remember, Harry - please don't say anything."

He sighed roughly, and she snuck a look at him from the corner of her eye. He looked strained, tired. He reached up and pulled his glasses off, laying them on the carpet. He rubbed his eyes and she watched him draw his knees up, and he leaned his forearms across them, his large, long fingered hands dangling loosely.

She bit her lip. "I'm sorry about all this," she said miserably.

Harry looked at her, the handsomeness of his young face undeterred by the fames of his glasses for once. He took her breath away, and left an ache in her chest that was some how not unfamiliar. She could see the clarity of color in his green eyes, and the points of his thick spiky black lashes surrounding them. His messy blue-black hair fanned across his forehead, hiding his scar, and gleamed softly in the light from the fire. Ginny felt her heart seize and it actually caused her pain to look at him suddenly.

"It's not really your fault," he said gently. Of course he would say that, she thought. He thought he was in love with her, and you never blame the one you love.

_Why not?_ She thought ruefully. She'd once loved him…and now she was practically blaming all this on him.

"I think I'm going for a walk." Ginny tried not to roll her eyes as Harry stood up with her abruptly, and she sighed. "Good night, Harry," she tried to say gently, but pointedly.

His face darkened. "Right." He turned away, and then looked back at her. "Wait here for just a second, will you?" She watched him disappear up into the boys dorms, and he came back moments later, a beautiful, lightweight cloak across his arms.

"Here," he said slightly breathless, dumping the cloak in her hands.

Ginny frowned, holding the silky, expensive fabric carefully. Realization dawned on her. "It's your invisibility cloak, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You should use it. I don't want Filch seeing you. Who knows what kind of trouble you'd get into."

Ginny swallowed, her throat slightly tight suddenly. She pushed the cloak back into his hands, "Thanks, Harry, but I can't use it."

His eyes went wide behind his glasses. "Why?"

"You don't understand-this is something very precious to you…and you're only letting me use it because you fancy yourself in love with me. What if something happened to it while I had it? After this spell wears off, you'd never forgive me."

Harry seemed to think about this very seriously, and after a moment, he draped the cloak over her shoulders, putting a finger over her lips to still her protests. "I trust you, Ginny. I think, no, I know, even though I may not be quite myself right now, that I would do this for you even if I wasn't under a love spell." He drew the hood up over her head, causing her to completely disappear. "You can give it to me in the morning." He grinned at her, and turned away again, to go upstairs.

Ginny caught the warm look of yearning in his eyes before he went though, and a weight dragged in her chest as she whispered a quick thank you, and practically ran from the room.

Ginny was unlucky enough to almost collide with Filch as she rounded a corner, so extreme was her need to exit the castle for a few minutes time.

She held her breath and backed away slowly as Mrs. Norris' red eyes looked up at her, her twisted whiskers, twitching. Filch held a lantern in hand, and swung toward Ginny threateningly, looking disappointed when he saw no one.

Mrs. Norris meowed, and made toward Ginny again, even though she knew the cat couldn't see her, Ginny turned and tip toed quickly away, hearing Filch muttering, "What is it, my dear? You hear something, yes?"

Ginny took the back stairs into the kitchen, and then through the silent, cavernous room, to a side door, which led, thankfully, directly outside.

She slumped against the closed door when she was safely through, and sighed, taking a deep breath of the cool night air.

She had just straightened a bit when there came a rustling from the bushes to her right, and Draco Malfoy, pushed out, growling to himself, and tugging his cloak from several twigs.

"But Draaaayyycoooo, I thought we could finally get together this year, you know - "

Ginny almost choked on her laughter as she tried to silence it. Pansy Parkinson came tripping out of the bushes after Malfoy, looking ridiculous in a spangled purple robe and far too much Muggle make-up on her pug face.

Malfoy, stopped in his tracks, his cloak swooshing as he turned on the girl and snapped vehemently, "Pansy, how many times do I have to tell you, I can't bloody stand you? I risked getting detention to come out here for five blessed minutes to myself, not to snog you in the bushes and listen to you whine about your delusions of grandeur. I'm never going to marry you, no matter what my father may be saying, I'd have to throttle you to death with my bare hands within the first week! You annoy me almost as badly as Potter! For Merlin's sake, stop following me around, and give me peace, woman!"

Pansy's face twisted into a hateful glare, making her even unpleasant looking, if that was possible.

Her hands fisted on her ample hips. "I hate you, Draco!"

Malfoy sneered at her, slitting his eyes. "I wouldn't want it any other way, my _love_," he smirked at her, rolling his eyes as she stalked away.

"Evil bloody cow," Ginny heard Malfoy mutter, and then he lowered himself onto a step right next to Ginny's feet.

She rolled her eyes, stuck. She watched him look out over the dark landscape for a few moments, barely breathing for fear he would hear. She wished he would go, so she could brood for a few minutes before dragging herself into bed.

He showed no signs of moving though, and finally, her feet and legs going numb from the cold, after fifteen minutes, Ginny sighed, making him jump, and dragged the hood off her shoulders.

"What the -Weasley!" Draco had jumped up, and was looking up at her from the ground, at where her head seemingly floated on the steps above. "What the hell are you doing out here?" He asked angrily.

She took several steps down to the springy grass where he stood. "Trying to have some time alone, like you apparently."

He looked her up and down, a hateful look on his pale luminous features. "You're nothing like me, Weasley, sorry to disappoint."

Ginny felt her temper flare. "As if Id want to be like you, cold and sour, and jealous, evil and unhappy, and a _suspected_ Death Eater for a father."

His face twisted into a dark scowl. "Jealous of who? You?" He snorted. "That's bloody unlikely."

"Harry."

He gave her a trademark scoffing sneer, one corner of his lips rising, one eye narrowing disgustedly. "Right, jealous of a boy who has to live with common Muggles and dresses in clothes not fit for a dustbin."

Ginny took a step toward him, her eyes calculating. "It's true, isn't it? You are jealous of him, don't bother denying it - everyone knows."

"'Everyone knows'." He snorted, taking his seat again. "Noone knows a thing about me, Weasley - they never have." He looked up at her coldly. "You can push off now, you know. I was here first."

Ginny felt her nostrils flare. "Bite me, Mal-Ferret." She walked past him, accidentally stepping on his hand where it rested on the steps.

He howled, jumping to his feet and clutching his throbbing hand.

She turned at the top of the steps and blinked at him innocently.

"Sorry, didn't see your tail laying there."

He glared at her, the moonlight turning his eyes to white hot silver.

"Watch your back, little Weasley," he ground out between his too sharp white teeth. "Or I may just take you up on the offer."

Ginny very deliberately turned her back on him, and slowly walked back indoors, pulling her hood over her head as she went, but she had to steel herself against a shiver of unease going up her spine.

The trip up to the tower was uneventful, thankfully, and Ginny crept into the girls dorm and carefully hid Harry's cloak before crawling into bed and falling into a restless sleep.

-

TBC


	4. 4. Memories

**_The End Of The World_**

**Author** - Lee Velviet

**Chapter Four** - _Memories_

_Edited/Revised 11/5/06_

_-_

_"Friends are those rare people who ask how you are, and then wait to hear the answer."_ - _Anonymous_

-

Ginny knew she was going to scream if she heard one more person humming the wedding march as she passed by.

Of course, not many besides the Slytherins dared to tease her so openly about the joke Malfoy had pulled on her the night before - most people were still wary of her because of her recent misfortune.

She could only thank the powers that be for the fact that Fred and George were no longer at Hogwarts. She could only imagine what they would have been doing.

Ginny marked her place in her Transfigurations book and placed it into her pack, and then tucked away her writing materials as the class came to an end.

Who'd have thought that anyone would ever be scared of her? She'd been 'little Ginny Weasley' her entire life.

Getting up from her seat at the back of the class, she began to walk out, trying very hard not to notice how several of her classmates hastened away from her.

The walk down to Double Potions was so quiet that she began to feel as if she were the last person on earth.

Just as she began to feel impossibly lonely, someone fell into step beside her.

Of course it was Harry.

"Hullo, Harry," she tried to say brightly, as if she were surprised to see him there.

Oddly enough though, she hadn't seen him since breakfast. That potion Malfoy had given him must have been wearing off. She couldn't decide if she was disappointed or relieved.

"Hi, Gin." Harry smiled at her in a friendly manner, and they walked along for a few moments, neither saying a word.

"Er…how are you today?"

"Um, fine…thanks." Ginny looked at him from the corner of her eye. Didn't he have a class to get to?

Harry simply walked with her for s few minutes, but didn't say another word.

His presence made Ginny extremely nervous, and she finally stopped him with a hand on his arm just short of the entrance to the steps leading down into the dungeons.

"Harry, what is it?"

He dug his hands into his pockets and stared down at her hand where it rested on his arm.

She quickly dropped it.

"I was really just wondering…that is, I wanted to see how you were holding up. I know all this has to be incredibly difficult for you." His eyes were soft but intense as they finally met hers. "You looked really upset this morning."

"I-I'm getting along, I suppose…it's rather hard when everyone treats you as if you have an incurable contagious disease."

"I know how you feel..."

Ginny thought back on the stories Ron had told her about Harry's years at Hogwarts and didn't doubt what he said a bit.

"Harry…thank you. It's very thoughtful of you to look out for me." She wasn't quite sure what else to say. "I appreciate it."

He blinked at her as a pink tinge crept over his cheeks. "You're welcome."

"I guess I'd better get to class." She turned toward the stairs. She caught herself smiling back at him over her shoulder, and she ducked her head when he smiled slowly at her in return. _Stop it_, she told herself sternly. _It's just the potion - he doesn't really love you._

She couldn't resist basking in the warm glow that had sprung up inside her, after the morning she'd had, though.

It was too bad it didn't last.

The good mood Harry's consideration had evoked died a slow and ugly death when she entered the Potions classroom a few minutes later and Malfoy met her with his usual infuriating smirk. She wondered briefly if his lips had been permanently fixed like that.

She sighed and settled down to wait out the hellish class.

-

"Are you crazy or just plain stupid, Weasley? You don't add the Chalet root before the mixture comes to a rolling boil - it says so right there in the notes!"

Ginny wanted to slug him in the worst way. Mostly because he was right - she'd been thinking about other things, and had almost ruined their potion. She ignored him with major difficulty and concentrated on crushing dried Silverweed into a fine dust, hoping he'd shut up.

Unfortunately, he didn't take the hint.

"Did you even bother reading the assignment? Or did Potter keep you that busy last night?"

Ginny shot him a hateful look and kept crushing. "Don't talk to me. I think you're a pain in the ass, and I'd quite frankly rather be using a Lethifold as a blanket than to have to sit here with you for the rest of the year. You're evil and annoying and I think that if you cherish your tongue, you should keep your nasty little comments to yourself."

"Sod off, Weasley - I've already had enough of you this year." He pulled the mortar and pestle from her hands and looked at her work disgustedly. "You didn't even grind the Silverweed right."

"You've had enough of ME?" Ginny stood up outraged, aggravated beyond her means to control herself.

Professor Snape barked at her to sit down, and Malfoy gloated as he took five points from Gryffindor for her interrupting his class.

Ginny sat down, trembling from head to toe, telling herself everything would be all right if Malfoy could just keep his mouth shut for five minutes…

That was when he asked her how the Wedding night had gone, and then she did slug him-right in his irritatingly handsome jaw.

Ginny abruptly grabbed her fist and hissed at the pain in her knuckles. She'd hit him so hard she could still feel it in her shoulder.

The room was dangerously quiet. Snape was looking at them in shock.

Malfoy sat perfectly still, the place where she'd struck him rapidly reddening and swelling. His head was still turned to the side from the force with which she'd struck him.

Ginny felt her hand burning unmercifully, and she felt a tinge of fear as she stared at him, aghast. Had she really just done that?

After a long moment, Malfoy turned his head back to look at her.

Her heart skipped a beat as she realized this merited instant retaliation.

He glared at her with slitted eyes, and what he did next shocked everyone-including her.

He quite simply hit her back with the flat of his hand.

Ginny gasped, immediately feeling tears fill her eyes as she raised her hand to the stinging, flaming spot on her cheek, and stared back at him incredulously.

Malfoy actually looked a tiny bit regretful. But his eyes were still furious as he stared back at her. He touched the bruising swelling on his lean jaw with an unsteady hand and finally rasped through clenched teeth, "Strike me again, Weasley, and see what happens."

His tone was so provoking, so threatening, it made her remember her anger, and she was sorely tempted to do just that - but Snape decided to step in just then.

Of course she ended up landing herself in detention-not just for hitting Malfoy - but for calling Snape a hateful, sexually repressed 'little' man when he took twenty points more from Gryffindor.

The man had actually blushed. And the insult had cost another five points.

Malfoy had lost ten points from Slytherin, and been sent on to Dumbledore along with her for fighting in class.

Ginny glared at him when instead of holding the classroom door open for her, he went through first and let go of it, so that it swung back and nearly smacked her in the face.

"This is all your fault," Ginny snapped at him on the walk up to Dumbledore's office. She fingered her tender cheek, wincing involuntarily.

"I fail to see how this suddenly became MY fault. You took the first swing - I was merely showing you the consequences of your actions." He readjusted his pack over his shoulder and looked at her from the corner of his eye as they climbed a set of stairs.

"I always knew you were a complete bastard. Got a thing for hitting girls, have you?" She couldn't help needling him.

"Unlike your precious Potter, I have no qualms about retaliating in kind when someone is stupid enough to lay hands on me - even if that someone is a little girl dressed in rags."

Ginny stopped on the steps and turned to face him, the top of her head feeling as if it might blow off. "First you put that memory charm on me, so I wouldn't remember Harry, then you pull that stunt with the love potion, and now you're smacking me around! Do I _look_ like your personal punching bag?"

Malfoy stopped too, and looked at her coldly. "I didn't put any memory charm on you, you silly brat. Why would I bother? Secondly, you really don't have much of a memory left do you, Weasley? You hit me first."

"So that makes it okay for you to bat me around like a practice bludger?"

"I'm a Malfoy - I can do whatever I like," he drawled in an irritatingly calm voice.

Ginny rubbed her bruised cheek lightly. "Couldn't you have just stuck to your unoriginal insults?"

This made him look extremely annoyed. "I think my insults are rather good, thank you very much - oh, ballocks. Now look what you've done."

Ginny looked around in alarm as the staircase began to move. "What I've done? Merlin, I can't stand you!"

"I think by this point I can safely say the same! Damn, this is going to take us completely out of our way." He eyed the new corridor stretching before them impatiently.

Ginny noticed it was a hall she wasn't familiar with at all. "Can't we just wait for the stairs to shift again?"

"They don't have a bloody schedule, Weasley," Draco stepped into the corridor and walked away.

Ginny looked around apprehensively before walking up after him.

"What is this place?" She looked around at the walls, which were hung with rather ragged, severe looking portraits of elderly witches and wizards. She grimaced at the sight of a gory, ghostly looking painting featuring a beheading - the axe just kept dropping, over and over, and the poor victim's head just kept popping right off and rolling away...

"It's the ghost's wing," he snapped with annoyance. "It's where the house ghosts reside. Not all of the house ghosts are as friendly as your Sir Nicholas, you know - our house ghost, the Bloody Baron, he'll haunt you for days on end if you cross his path while he's in a temper."

"When isn't he in a temper - always floating about with those eerie eyes, looking ghastly, scaring the first years," Ginny grinned, and looked up at him. "He's really not much different from you, is he?"

Malfoy sighed sufferingly. "Do you never shut up?"

"Never," Ginny said unrepentantly.

"You're tongue is going to get you in some very real trouble one day."

"Too late," Ginny muttered.

Draco mumbled something rude and abruptly ducked into a room.

Uncomfortable with the thought of being stuck in the eerie hall all alone made her walk in after him.

The room was dark. "Where are you going, Malfoy?"

"To the devil, I suppose," he drawled from nearby.

"Oh? Do you believe in the devil?" She squinted and barely made out where he stood next to a tall, carved stone statue of an unhappy looking wizard.

"There are too many things that go on around here for me not to," he replied absently, and appeared to be looking around the base of the statue for something.

"What are you doing?" Ginny pulled out her wand and lit the room.

"Finding a shortcut - " he looked up at her from around the statue and she stared at the blooming purple mark on his jaw in dismay - until he finished his sentence. "I don't know how much longer I can stand to be alone with you."

Ginny just snorted.

"Ah, here it is." Malfoy clicked something, and then stood away from the statue, as it swung heavily outward, revealing a narrow, dusty passageway. "This should take us right up to Dumbledore's office."

"Wow, how did you know about this?" Asked Ginny as they stepped inside the drafty passage and the statue moved closed behind them.

He looked at her with one blond brow arched. "Right. I tell you, and then off you go blabbering about it to everyone. They aren't called 'secret' passages for nothing."

"I wouldn't 'blab'," Ginny said, offended. "Unlike a certain smarmy-mouthed git I could speak of, I know how to keep secrets."

"You know nothing about me, Weasley. I can keep secrets. I have secrets that would turn your hair white if you knew them."

"Oh, scary."

Ginny ducked a rather large spider web and immediately thought of Ron when a green and black spider scuttled out of her way.

"So?"

"What?" He stopped and looked at her with an angry sigh.

"Are you going to tell me how you knew about this passageway? Do you know about anymore?" She hated the eagerness in her voice, but having the knowledge of a few secret entrances and such might come in incredibly handy when she wanted to be alone.

"No, and yes. Now quit being a bloody pain and move!"

"Are you scared I'm going to slug you again?"

"What? You must be joking. Just because you caught me off guard and popped my cork once, doesn't mean I'll let you do it again."

"Because I'm just a little girl, right?" Ginny was tapping her foot angrily.

"Because you're just a little girl," he agreed sneeringly. He was drawing disturbingly near…

"You're a miserable sod, you know that?"

"Give over, Weasley." He lowered his face until it was level with hers.

Ginny found herself closer to him than she'd ever been before - she could see the star like burst of odd silver streaks radiating outward from his pale colored irises, and the slightly dark circles under his eyes that attested to the fact that he didn't sleep very well.

"Give over what?"

"Tell me you wouldn't say yes if I threw you down right here and snogged you until you fainted."

Surprised, Ginny took a stumbling step back from him. "B-but I hit you!"

He took a step forward. "And I hit you."

"I'm not getting you, Malfoy. Are you suggesting that I'm attracted to you?"

"Maybe."

"Are you telling me you love me or something - did someone slip you a potion?"

"Love you?" He laughed. "Certainly not. No, I don't even like you…but there's something there between us. Something almost… elemental."

"If I had known all it took to get a guy to pay attention to you was to smack them around a bit, I'd have done it years ago," she tried to say lightly.

"Aren't you in the least bit curious? Aren't you interested in finding out what it's like to kiss someone you loathe?" He had her backed against the wall now, and his arms braced on either side of her.

"Not terribly," she squeaked. Malfoy was absolutely mad-just plain barking mad!

"Oh well, if I were Potter I suppose I'd take that as a no and leave it at that. But I'm not, am I?"

"No!" She tried to turn her head, but he grabbed her chin and held it still as he unbelievably pressed his lips against hers.

The strangeness didn't stop there, she soon discovered - she actually found herself leaning into his kiss as if she enjoyed it!

He sighed roughly against her lips and the sound made her legs tremble.

Minutes later, she discovered his chest was pressed against hers, and her fingers were tangled in the baby soft, longish blond hair at the back of his neck. She felt weak as his hands lifted and encircled her wrists, and she couldn't prevent a small sound of protest as he slowly pulled her arms down, and released her, taking a step away.

"Well…that was interesting." He eyed her coldly.

Ginny blinked at him. "Huh?" She frowned, feeling strongly disoriented. What had just happened?

"We'd better move on, Dumbledore is still expecting us."

Ginny watched as he moved away down the passage, looking cool and unruffled, and then slid down the wall to sit hard on her rear.

All she could think about, at first, oddly enough, was that he'd stolen her first kiss-the one that she'd been saving for Harry…and then she squeezed her eyes shut as her mind was slowly bombarded with one hurtful memory after another…

"Weasley?"

What seemed like hours later, Ginny opened her eyes, and found them blurry from tears. Malfoy was standing above her, frowning.

"What's wrong with you?"

Ginny stared at the floor, her chest having ached itself numb. Again. "I'm fine."

"Well…come on, then. You don't want people getting ideas about us, do you?"

She started laughing then, and couldn't seem to stop.

"Snap out of it, Weasley! Or do you want me to slap you again?"

Ginny stopped her hysterical giggling with a major effort. "Could you just knock me out instead?"

"What's your problem?" He sounded irritated - and not a little anxious.

_Probably thought he was going to get into some real trouble,_ she thought glumly.

It was weird - like she'd woken up from a dream. All of her memories had returned, and she remembered the memory charm-and why she'd done it to herself.

The tears started again at the thought of what everyone would say if they found out…found how weak she was…and then she thought of how weak the memory charm she'd used had been in the first place - it hadn't lasted very long at all! She hadn't even been able to do _that_ right!

She remembered Harry trying to talk to her about what had happened between them - he'd been so sweet, so sincere - and she'd felt so scared…now she knew why.

She thought about the love potion and everything that had happened since, and all of her emotions came crashing together in a huge, earth-shaking, mind-bending crash-

Ginny was dimly aware of Malfoy talking to her.

"Just leave me alone - I'm busy losing my bloody mind," she heard herself mumble shakily, and she stared at the dusty wall of the passage, wondering if he would just go away and hopefully not mention her to anyone, and she could just hide there forever with the ghosts…

"You sure cause a lot of trouble for being as tiny as you are," she heard him grunt near her ear. She felt his arms under her, and she closed her eyes as he lifted her up against him.

"What are you doing?"

"Be quiet, Weasley. I'm attempting the first 'nice' thing I've ever done in my entire life, and I don't need you reminding me." He said it as if it were distasteful to him.

Ginny laid her head tiredly against his chest. "Just drop me out the first window you come to, will you?"

"Has anyone ever told you, you have major issues? And about the window...don't tempt me…"

-

TBC


	5. 5. Bad Weasel! Bad!

**_The End Of The World_**

**Author -** Lee Velviet

**Chapter Five** - _Bad Weasel! Bad!_

_Edited/Revised 11/5/06_

_-_

Ginny was still lost in the turmoil of her emotions when she felt Malfoy tap her cheek.

"Hey…you still with us, Weasel?"

Ginny turned her head. "Don't call me 'Weasel'."

"What, are you absolutely clueless? I'm not going to call you by your real name - that'd just be wrong."

Ginny found herself glaring at him. "This whole situation is just wrong."

"No, Snape pairing us together in Potions was wrong -this situation we're presently in is Fate's idea of getting back at me for the past seventeen years of my life."

"Not that I really care, but why are you such a rat?"

He shrugged. "It's just what I do."

Ginny rolled her eyes and tried very hard to pretend Draco Malfoy was not carrying her up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

"He's not here - unbelievable!"

Ginny frowned as she opened her eyes blearily and found herself abruptly and none too gently deposited into the chair before the Headmaster's desk.

"What are you getting so pissy about, Malfoy?" She rubbed her aching temples as the room spun crazily.

He stepped up to the chair and looked down at her impatiently. "I carried you all the way up here for nothing!"

Insulted, Ginny gaped at him. "You suck on so many levels right now, Mal-Ferret," she shook her head at him disbelievingly. "The only reason you carried me up here was to make yourself look good in Dumbledore's eyes?"

He sat on the edge of the Headmaster's massive desk and crossed his arms. "Not a day goes by that I don't wonder at the gullibility of you Weasley's. Why else would I have bothered dirtying my robes by touching you?"

"You should be proud of yourself - I haven't got words enough to explain how much I'm disliking you right now,"

He smirked, eyeing her lazily. "I suppose you're going to tell me now that you didn't like my kissing you back there either."

"I'd rather have kissed You-Know-Who," Ginny mumbled mulishly.

"I suppose that could be arranged, you know - " began Draco thoughtfully.

"Oh shut it, you snakey git," snapped Ginny angrily.

"'Snakey git'?" He shook his head. "You're the one who needs to work on their insults, Weasel."

"You know what? You're on thin ice with me already, Malfoy, and I can safely say, I'm not in my right mind right now, so if you want more from me than a measly punch, all you have to do is keep talking!" Ginny sat up in the chair, moving to the edge of her seat threateningly.

"I'll keep talking, " he stated nastily, pushing off the desk to kneel before her. " I think you need to learn a lesson about who makes the threats around here, Weasley," He grabbed her face firmly between his hands and looked straight into her eyes.

"Let me go," Ginny snapped through her teeth.

"I will, once you admit you're scared of me."

"Scared of you?" Ginny snorted. "I'm scared of your dragon breath, maybe!"

"I have never had dragon breath! My personal hygiene has never been less than perfect!"

He noticed her looking back at him with his very own smirk and snapped. "That's it!"

Ginny made a sound of protest as he leaned in and kissed her, hard. She tried to ignore the sensations curling through her and drew back her small foot, ready to kick him in a very taboo place - but he released her suddenly, and she opened her eyes to see him watching her oddly, breathing hard, his unusual silvery eyes moving over her face searchingly.

Finally he pushed away from her, running a hand through his hair, and began pacing, occasionally muttering something to himself.

She watched him in fascination, forgetting the kiss, never having seen him act so out of sorts.

"Malfoy, if you don't stop talking to yourself, they'll be sending us both to St. Mungo's," Ginny said finally, after he walked to the wall and proceeded to bang his forehead against it in a rather painful looking manner.

He looked at her sharply from the corner of his eye and cursed loudly.

She shrugged. "I thought_ I_ had problems."

"Oh, you have problems, Weasel - in fact, you have one _big_ problem - me." He turned away from the wall with an odd look in his eyes, and it made her very uncomfortable.

"I'll admit, until this very moment, I've hardly thought of you as being anything besides something incredibly nasty on the bottom of my shoe, but you've annoyed me to the point of physical violence - and I pride myself on my self-control! From this point on, you'd better watch every little thing you say or do around me, because if you provoke me further, even just the smallest, insignificant bit, I won't be held responsible for the consequences!"

Ginny stared at him, wonderingly. "You didn't take one breath through all of it - what do you do, practice ranting in front of a mirror?"

Malfoy looked ready to pull his perfectly combed hair out by the handfuls. _"I do not rant!"_

"What do you call what you're doing right now? Giggling?"

Dumbledore stepped into his office just as Malfoy growled and dove for Ginny's throat.

He looked at them, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his elaborate robes, his eyes twinkling and his face wearing an amused expression, though Ginny could tell he did his best to look grave.

"So, am I to understand you beat up Mr. Malfoy, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny bit her lip to keep from grinning madly.

Malfoy made a strange choking noise, turned purple and fell into the chair next to hers, gripping the arms tightly with his fingernails.

-

She'd been right about the love potion - it was definitely wearing off. Harry had given her only a cursory glance that afternoon, and had barely spoken a word to her. She should have been glad, but with the return of her memory, it was more painful than ever to see him, and to know what had happened between them the year before…

Dumbledore had left the choice of telling her friends what had really happened to her, completely up to her - he'd been very understanding - but the return of her memory still hadn't gotten her out of detention. He'd barely said a word about the fact that she'd struck Malfoy, only that he didn't condone violence. Ginny had wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

Snape had left the choice of her punishment up to McGonagall, as she was the head of her house, and Ginny was to see the woman directly after dinner - which was where she was currently heading.

She got several smiles from her classmates as she walked along, and a lot of calls congratulating her on decking Malfoy - of course, the whole situation had gotten blown completely out of proportion, and her classmates were either more scared of her than ever, or were patting her on the back and saying mournfully how they wished they could have been there to see it.

She made her way into the Great Hall, and was so caught up in her thoughts that she could almost ignore the stares sent her way.

Ron was there, and Hermione too. Harry hadn't come down yet, she supposed.

She took her seat, and hesitantly looked at her brother. He looked as if he were torn between wanting to give her a major verbal lashing, and wanting to jump up and yell that yes, she was his sister, and how proud he was of her. She could hear it now, "Yeah, that's my sis - took out Malfoy with one hit! Always knew she had it in her!"

Ginny was still trying to decide whether or not to tell them about the memory charm-it was either, tell them and get it off her chest, and be utterly humiliated for the rest of her life, or keep it to herself, feel eternally guilty, and go slowly bonkers from it.

She decided to wait until the three of them could be alone. Harry would most certainly not appreciate all the problems that had come with her decision, well, neither would Ron for that matter - in his eyes, all the blame would fall on her, again, no doubt.

When Harry finally arrived at the table to sit next to her, she was fairly jumping with nerves - the knowledge that he was right next to her, and really wanted nothing to do with her was making her crazy, and she was furious at herself for it.

"Okay, Gin," Ron suddenly said with that air of finality of his, "what exactly happened today? Do you have any idea what I've been hearing all afternoon long? I actually think, at one point, someone said you and Malfoy had had a duel in Potions?"

Ginny pursed her lips and then said, "Well, that's just ridiculous - we didn't duel in Potions - we dueled in Dumbledore's office."

Ron's face went extremely pale. He blinked slowly. "You…what?"

Ginny sighed and shook her head. "Yep, Dumbledore was my second, didn't you hear?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and nudged Ron with her elbow. "She's not being serious you twit, honestly, you need to loosen up."

Ron scowled across the table at her. "Are you raving? Do you have any idea what people are saying?"

"Since when do you care what people are saying?"

He just pressed his lips together, his eyes narrowing.

Ginny sighed and chanced a look over at Harry - he was staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.

She decided it was time to find a nice dark hole to crawl into.

"So Harry…is the, er, potion wearing itself off yet?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

Harry kept his eyes on Ginny and nodded. "Yes, slowly - but Madam Pomfrey said it would still be a couple of days before it goes away completely."

Ginny blushed in humiliation and looked down at the table as it began filling with food. Oh, hell, she thought as her vision blurred, there were tears - hadn't she gotten rid of the bloody things in the passageway earlier?

"I'm going to bed." Not waiting to see their reactions, Ginny left quickly before she let the tears fall.

She paused on the top step of a staircase and dropped her head onto her knees. How long would it be before the numbness began to set in again? How long would she have to wait this time?

"Feeling sorry for yourself, Weasley?"

Ginny groaned. "What do you want?'

"Absolutely nothing. I just wondered if you were all right. Really, am I _that_ bad…"

"I hate it when you try to act kind."

"Oh? Tell me, would you be happier if I slapped you again?"

His arrogant voice sounded far too eager for her comfort. "Too late, I already asked you to throw me out of a window. You missed your opportunity."

She heard him move and then he was sitting next to her on the step. "It's not that bad, you know - Potter's frigging blind, even with those stupid specs," he said conversationally.

Ginny peeked at him from between her fingers. Draco Malfoy, comforting her? Maybe he had dropped her out of that window earlier after all - she was suffering from a concussion and experiencing some kind of delusion. "What, are you out for my blood, Malfoy? Sorry, the diner's closed." She dropped her hands, and stood up to walk away.

"Have you told them, yet, Weasley?" There was softness in his tone that Ginny attributed to the fact that was trying to threaten her.

She stopped and turned back around to face him, her robes slashing the air with the abrupt movement. "It's none of your business, Mal-ferret, and just in case you were thinking about blackmail, don't bother. I don't know how you found out - listening at the door after the Headmaster dismissed you, no doubt, you dirty slithering sneak! I'm telling them the minute I can get them alone, although, I don't doubt you'll go running off at the mouth about it to everyone else."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "You think you know everything, do you? Well, you don't."

Ginny frowned as she watched him descend the steps, and shook her head. What was the evil little git going on about?

-

The 'telling' did not go well.

Her friends just stared at her, and her brother, well…

"Are you insane? If you were stupid enough to use a memory charm, you bloody well should have just used the Obliviate - it would have lasted for longer - forever maybe!"

"Ron!" Hermione hissed. "She's lucky she didn't wipe out her mind completely!"

"Lucky? It would have been lucky if it had! Then I wouldn't have had to come back to this!" Ginny shouted, her voice shaking.

Harry finally stopped staring at her and opened his mouth. "That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard of anyone doing! Did you even stop to think about it, Ginny? Did you stop to think about how your Mum and Dad would've felt if it had gone wrong, if something had happened to you? Don't you ever think about anyone but yourself?"

Harry had gone red and was yelling himself by this point.

Oh, yes, it was safe to say, the amore potion had definitely worn off. She'd have to talk to Malfoy about the weakness of it - a spark went off in her brain.

_Malfoy_!

"Fine. I told you all, I told you why I did it, where, and when. I'm not going to say it wasn't stupid, but if you ever, ever, yell at me again, Ron, and it goes for you too, Mr. All-high-and-mighty Harry Potter, I'll personally see to finding a spell that will tie your tongues into knots! Not to mention other various and sundry parts of your bodies!"

Ron and Harry winced at the ferocity of her threat.

"I'm sorry Hermione - I have to go - I have a date!" Ginny grabbed up her robes and stalked out of the common room barely hearing the protests of Ron from behind.

Furious, Ginny wandered the school until she found who she was looking for - Draco Malfoy.

He was in the Library, draped lazily across a chair near the windows, swinging one leg boredly as he flipped the pages of a dusty tome.

"You read?"

His pale eyes flickered up to meet hers and he looked at her from beneath his brows. "Do I look like a complete moron, Weasley? Yes, I read."

"I'm not going to answer that." Ginny dropped to her knees next to his chair and looked out the window.

"Is there a reason you're sitting next to me, Weasel?"

"What's wrong with me sitting here?"

"Well, nothing, I suppose…except I can't bloody stand you."

"Liar."

He snapped the book closed, waved at the cloud of dust it emitted, and peered over the chair arm at her.

"Are you planning on staying there long?"

"Yes," said Ginny petulantly. "Why?"

"I just needed to know if I should leave or not."

"Wait!" Ginny grabbed his ankle as he stood up.

"Weasley, I know I'm devilishly good looking, but please, you're making a scene," he stated dryly.

"Oh, shut it, you know there's no one else in here but us this time of night,"

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I came here because I knew that and might have wanted to be alone?"

"Really? Aww, poor ickle Drakkiekins - diddums have to find a quiet place to brood?" Ginny pouted, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Are you quite sure you weren't supposed to be sorted into Slytherin?"

"Ha-ha! No." Ginny let go of his ankle and stood up. "I'm tired of Ron picking at me, and Harry looking at me as if I were something stubborn that won't scrape off his broom handle."

"I fail to see what any of this is supposed to mean - it's not my problem you have a temper mental tyrant for a brother and a crush on a clueless nerd." Malfoy examined his fingernails with a bored expression.

"No, it's not your problem, but it's my problem, and I'm sick of it." Ginny grabbed his hand and looked up at him earnestly, a wicked sparkle in her eye.

"Want to go out with me?"

He stared hard at her, obviously trying to remember how to use his tongue. "I-you-WHAT?"

"I asked if you wanted to go out with me." Ginny tugged on his hand, and pushed him back into his chair before he fell over in shock.

"I…did you just-?"

"Really Malfoy, you must get your hearing checked," said Ginny happily. She'd never seen him act that way before. It was kind of fun, knowing she'd actually surprised Draco Malfoy.

He blinked at her, and then, before she knew what was happening, he stood back up and turned a look on her that was so menacing, so full of anger and dislike, that she actually began backing away from him. It reminded her of how he'd looked just before he'd slapped her that day, and her heart started thumping wildly in fear.

"Thought you'd play a joke on me, Weasel? Thought you'd give everybody a good laugh, did you? Well, I may have liked kissing you, but I'm not stupid enough to advertise it - if you thought you were going to get me to go out with you and then dump me like yesterday's rubbish, and draw attention from yourself, well you're dead wrong! I'm a Malfoy, damn it, and people don't toy with us, we toy with them! So go whining back to Potty and tell him I said to shove - "

Ginny's ears were beginning to hurt - and he'd said he didn't rant. The fierce expression on his cruelly handsome face was actually rather attractive, but…

She took a deep breath, stepped forward, and pulled his head down to kiss him.

The tirade stopped suddenly, and he seemed to flounder slightly before he grabbed her waist, turned, pushed her into his vacated chair, and knelt before her, turning the kiss around so that it was he who was in control, and not her.

Ginny wasn't surprised-he wanted to dominate everything else, why shouldn't he want to dominate a simple kiss?

She wished it were a simple kiss.

His lips were scorching across hers, and it was nothing like the kiss they'd shared in the corridor. It was better.

Much better, Ginny sighed to herself.

She was so caught up in the kiss, she didn't realize he'd slid his hand down to pull her against him snugly, and lifted her thighs to curl around his slim hips.

His soft, warm tongue ran across her bottom lip before darting inside to slide against hers, and she gasped, startled at the unfamiliar intrusion, before a soothing hand stroking her nape made her relax fully against him. She kissed him back hesitantly at first, and then with an intensity that had them both forgetting the need for air.

"Ginny…"

The breathless growl made her eyes snap open and she pulled back to look at him, her eyes unfocused.

He laid his forehead against hers, and panted, "I don't want this… don't want this…"

"Well," she returned, just as breathlessly, "I don't know what 'this' is, but we've got it, haven't we? So…where do we go from here?"

"You really are an innocent aren't you?" He pushed away from her and stood up, looking flushed and shaky. He ran a hand though his hair, and straightened his disheveled looking robes.

Ginny tugged hers down over her legs and cleared her throat, wondering when the world had turned upside down. What was she thinking, snogging Draco Malfoy in full view of anyone who might happen by, in a library for Merlin's sake!

She couldn't bring herself to regret a moment of it, and she found herself grinning up at a very cagey looking Malfoy.

"So? Is that all? Don't you have anything more to show me?"

Her breathy whisper made him close his eyes and shake his head.. "You've turned into a parent's worst nightmare."

"Not yet…but I'm working on it." Ginny grinned, feeling a huge weight lift from her shoulders. The mental picture of Harry that she'd always carried with her had finally broken, and she felt like she could breathe again. She stood up and put her hands on his shoulders, feeling ready for anything. "What do you say? Do you want to help me shock everyone?"

"What exactly do you want from me, Weasley?" Malfoy's eyes narrowed on her warily.

Ginny's velvety brown eyes darkened, and a cold smile crept across her lips. "I want you to teach me to be _bad_."

-

TBC

-


	6. 6. Practicing

_**The End Of The World**_

**Author -** Lee Velviet

**Chapter Six -** _Practicing_

_-_

"So…the littlest Weasley wants to be bad, now? Will wonders never cease?" Malfoy looked at her sharply, and then began walking around her, circling her like a vulture with its prey.

"What exactly do you think you're going to do, Weasel? Run around and kick people in the shin?" He stopped in front of her and tugged her chin up. "You're certainly short enough to do that." He was head and shoulders taller than her, and seemed determined to point out every bit of dominance he had over her.

"You're playing at this…you don't just 'learn' how to be bad, or evil…you're just born that way."

Ginny sighed impatiently. "I'm going gray, here…well? Yes, or no?"

"No. No way. Forget it…find someone else."

"Malfoy, there is no one else…" Ginny crossed her arms and bit her lip. A sly look crossed her face, and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Unless, of course, you think one of your housemates might be willing to - "

"No…" he snarled, his face darkening.

"And you're telling me that this idea holds absolutely 'no' interest for you?"

"Absolutely none."

Ginny shrugged and turned away.

His voice stopped her. "Do you love Potter?"

"What?" Ginny turned back on him, her brows lowering.

"You heard me."

She sighed angrily. "You have to find every nerve and just shred it to bits, don't you? Yes…I love Harry...but I don't want to."

"That's the problem, Weasley." He shook his head and turned away to look out the dark windows. "That's 'your' problem. You 'love'. You love your family, love Potter, love Granger - I bet you even love that aggravating wanker you call your brother. You can't be 'bad', Weasel, if you love…you feel too much."

"Don't you love anyone, Malfoy?" asked Ginny quietly.

"No."

"You don't even love your parents? Your family?"

He snorted. "No, especially not my 'family'."

"Why?"

Cold, colorless eyes looked back at her over his shoulder, full of contempt. "You can't understand, Weasley…there's nothing there to love."

"Not in me, and certainly not in them."

The library was silent for a long moment, before Ginny wet her lips and took a step nearer to him. In the golden light from several lit candles, she could make out his and her reflection in the tall, darkened windows. She stopped near his shoulder, and looked at their hazy reflection. It was surreal…she'd never have thought she'd ever see herself standing – willingly – next to Draco Malfoy.

"It hurts."

He looked down at her, his eyes hooded.

Ginny looked up at him, biting her lip. "I don't want it to hurt anymore. I don't care what you think - call me a coward, call me a fool, I don't care. I'd rather be seen as an unfeeling bitch than be pitied by everyone - _especially_ Harry."

"I don't like you, you know," said Malfoy finally.

"I wouldn't be here if you did – I could care less if anyone ever 'likes' me again."

After a long moment, he turned to her, and looked her over insultingly. "All right…it might prove to be amusing. You might even make yourself useful…I could use you to get Pansy off my back."

Ginny grinned and started to speak – but he waved his hand.

"First of all…we have to do something about your look." His lips twisted. "If you're going to be hanging out around me, you need to tame that, that, 'mass' on top of your head…I don't suppose you'd consider changing the color? No? Well…do something. If you don't look good, I don't look good…what am I saying? I _always_ look good."

"Nice to see you've retained a bit of humility, Malfoy." Ginny said dryly.

"It's _Draco_. And therein lies your first lesson, 'Ginny' my sweet." He tugged one of her curls and smirked. "The bad guys don't have to practice humility."

"What do 'bad guys' practice, then?"

"What do you think? Sarcasm…looks of disdain…playing dirty, making infuriating remarks, playing dirty, pulling underhanded tricks, playing dirty, self-control-"

"I'll be learning that from someone else then," Ginny said in a mocking tone, reminding him of his obvious lack of it where she was concerned.

"Hmmm…all right, that made me angry, yes…but I'm not going to let myself fall prey to such a shallow emotion." His no longer flat eyes said otherwise.

"You mean, again?" She laughed at his black expression. "Oh, I was just 'practicing', Mal-ferret. Don't get your thong in a bunch."

"I do not wear 'thongs'...and stop calling me by that horribly unoriginal name. It happened two years ago - get over it."

"So, what do you wear? No, wait, I know. Green boxers with little snitches all over them? I bet you have them starched too."

His eyes narrowed and he wrapped his hands around her waist and tugged her close. "The state of my boxers is none of your business."

"Ah–ha! So you _do_ wear boxers!" She felt his hands clench threateningly.

"How did we get on this subject?" His eyes had gone liquid silver, and Ginny felt her throat tighten.

Nervous suddenly, she blurted, "How about we go to bed?"

His eyes widened in disbelief. She rolled hers. "I meant, go to our 'separate' beds. To sleep."

He cleared his throat and dropped his hands. "Right…meet me for breakfast in the morning; at my table. We may as well start traumatizing the rest of the school."

Ginny nodded. She took a step away.

"Ginny?"

"Yes?" She looked at him questioningly.

"You can't have regrets."

"What?"

"If they start in on you about all this, you have to stay detached. Tell them to bloody shove off, and you can't feel guilty about it. You can't be considerate - there's no _kind_ way to go about this. You have to separate yourself, if not physically, then emotionally. Love is a weakness, and it will screw you rotten every chance it gets. Remember that, whenever you chance to resurrect your 'fluffy bunny feelings' for Potter." He said this last with absolute loathing.

"Right…no 'fluffy bunny feelings'."

"Oh…and don't forget to try to look as if I'd actually be interested in you, 'Ginny'." His gaze raked her hair insultingly.

Her temper flared and she pushed it down with difficulty. He was testing her. "Don't forget to try to act as if 'I'd' actually be interested in 'you', Draco," she said softly as she left. "Oh, and you might want to wash some of that stuff out of your hair - combing it straight back like that makes you look like a greased ferret – did you know?"

All she heard from behind her was a disgruntled sounding snort.

Ginny examined herself in the mirror after she got out of the shower the next morning. She scowled at the sprinkling of freckles on her nose and cheeks and prodded them with her finger. She tugged and pushed and pulled at her tangled red curls to no avail - nothing could be done - without some kind of charm, or potion anyway.

She padded into her dorm in her robe and yanked out a stack of her roommates Witch Weekly magazines.

Fifteen minutes later, Ginny again stood before the mirror, and looked at her hair skeptically.

She'd found a charm that faded the freckles almost completely out, and had wandered up to a very sleepy, very confused Hermione to beg for her bottle of Sleek Easy potion.

Maybe she'd used too much…Ginny turned her head from side to side and finally felt somewhat satisfied. She wasn't sure if the soft, smooth, brushed back waves suited her, but her mane had been tamed, and Malfoy would have to be happy with it, unless he was secretly thinking of becoming a hair dresser.

She dressed, pulled on her shoes, and then paused by the small vanity before she left to apply a touch of lip-gloss and a soft dusting of blush along her cheekbones.

Ginny was careful to keep her face expressionless as she swept into the hall.

She walked very deliberately right past her usual spot at the Gryffindor table to walk around and sit next to Malfoy.

She looked at him cautiously, only to find him staring at her. "What?" Had he changed his mind?

"You look – different." His eyes moved across her face, and her hair.

"Well…that's what you wanted, wasn't it?" His scrutiny was making her uncomfortable.

Draco just kept staring.

"Do I look all right?" She barely restrained herself from lifting a hand to her head.

"Er…better, at least. Passable." He dropped his eyes and made a dismissive gesture with his hand.

"Ah, look – you've gotten some attention." He smirked across the tables to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were staring at them in shock and dismay.

"Look at them, the stupid gits," he said sneeringly, "they're absolutely lost."

Ginny tried not to feel guilty as she met her friends' eyes. Harry and Ron looked positively betrayed.

"Not having second thoughts, are you?"

She frowned at his question. Before she could answer, she noticed everyone seated down the entire length of the Slytherin table was either staring at her, or shooting her incredibly dirty looks.

"It doesn't look as if I'm going to be very much liked over here," she murmured.

"They'll like whomever I tell them to like," he said arrogantly.

She watched him for a moment, and then smiled wryly. "I see you took my advice."

His usually sleek, slicked back hairstyle was noticeably absent that morning. His hair was brushed back, looking slightly longer, and tucked behind his ears. Long strands of the soft, shiny looking platinum hair fell forward over his forehead and into his silvery eyes.

He ignored her and very properly laid his napkin in his lap. "Eat up, Ginny. We still have the rest of the day to get through."

Ginny tugged her eyes from him with a concentrated effort and looked right into the pinched, pudgy face of Pansy Parkinson. The girl's small eyes were blazing with hatred, and Ginny smiled at her.

The girl's face twisted and her expression became, if it were even possible, even more hateful.

"Er, Draco?" She kept her eyes on Pansy and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"Hm?"

"I think someone forgot to give your girlfriend over there her distemper shots."

Draco shot her a dirty look before stating, "She's not my 'girlfriend' – she just wishes she was."

"That's not what it looked like to me the other night, when you came dragging out of those bushes with her," Ginny jabbed with a smirk.

"Quit stealing my smirk, brat - it's most unbecoming on you. And I won't even bother coming up with a comeback for that ridiculous statement – I'd rather go out with Fang." He blew a strand of hair out of his eyes and picked up his juice.

"Fang probably wouldn't need a rabies shot," said Ginny agreeably.

"Such a dry wit – I never would have expected it from you, Weasel."

" 'Ginny'," she corrected as she picked up a warm strawberry scone and began slathering it with fresh butter.

"Sorry – old habits die hard," he shrugged.

Ron caught up with her right after breakfast.

Ginny looked at her brother coolly as he laid his hand on her arm. "What do you want?"

"What do I – Ginny, what has gotten into you? What were you doing with Malfoy? You slugged the rat yesterday, and now you're sitting next to him at breakfast? Everyone's talking about it! Tell me you're not going out with him."

She pushed down a twinge of guilt and regret, and pushed his hand off her arm. "What if I am? It's not any of your business. If I'm such a bloody embarrassment, Ron, you should be glad to be rid of me. Rest assured, I won't bother you anymore this year."

"Ginny, you've been through a lot, I know – I'm sorry I've been hard on you, but just think of what you're doing, think about what Mum and Dad will think, how they'll feel – "

"Is he bothering you, Ginny?"

Ginny looked past Ron's shoulder to see Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle towering over them. It was Crabbe who had spoken. The large boy glared down at Ron with beady eyes beneath his heavy brow.

Her brother's eyes widened as he turned and caught sight of the two boys.

Ginny at last found her voice. Malfoy had obviously told them to watch out for her…as weird as it was, she felt comforted.

"I'm fine…I was just headed to D.A.D.A. Thanks." Ginny tried out her new smirk on Ron, and was rewarded with a furious red flush before she slipped past him and walked away.

She tried not to feel guilty, but the memory of the hurt look hiding within the anger in her brother's eyes stayed with her through her next class.

"So…how has your first day of being public enemy number one been going?"

Ginny looked over at Draco tiredly as he sat down next to her. "I wouldn't want to steal that privilege from you, but…it's been…amusing. I don't think I've actually ever seen so many people look at me as if I were dirt before, it was oddly refreshing. Then of course, there were the people who looked at me as if I were the devil himself…I didn't think about it that way before, but it was actually kind of funny, seeing them cringe or go out of their way to keep out of 'my' way." She leaned on her elbow on the desk she shared with him and dropped her head onto her hand. She watched as she twirled a quill between her fingers and then smiled at him. "Thanks for setting Crabbe and Goyle on me, they kept Ron and Harry off my back today."

Draco shrugged. "The less contact you have with them the better. Besides, they're annoying as hell."

"They weren't very happy," she sighed.

"Who cares?" He reached into her bag, which was lying near her feet, and pulled out her potions text. "Did you do the home work?"

Ginny gnawed on her thumbnail, nervous. "No, I was going to, then everything happened last night, and I got tired so I figured, 'screw it.'

Draco chuckled slightly, and opened her book, laying it out on the table. "Well, nice try at being rebellious, but Snape isn't the type to let you get away with not doing your homework…at least, if you're not in Slytherin." He looked over at her and smirked. "He still makes us make it up, though. He just loves to infuriate the Gryffindor's by pretending to 'not' take away points from us in class."

Ginny shrugged and began setting up her cauldron. "It doesn't matter if he gives me detention, anyway…I've still got to come down here tonight because I socked you yesterday. McGonagall said it would do me good to spend time with you," she snickered and pulled out a roll of parchment to take notes on.

Draco smiled thinly. "Funny. Snape said the same thing to me about you. I have to be here at eight to clean his storeroom and reset the ingredients - he wants them in alphabetical order - by their Latin names, of course."

Ginny groaned. "This is what we get stuck with just for that?"

"You seemed to think 'that' was rather a big deal, yesterday."

"Yesterday was yesterday," she sighed, and flipped open her book.

When it came time to hand in their assignments, Ginny very coolly looked Snape right in the eye and told him she didn't have hers.

He snapped at her, but not nearly as severely as usual, when he saw Draco's hand reach to cover hers on the desk in a very discreet manner that spoke volumes.

"I expect you to have it by this evening when you return to serve your detention."

Ginny didn't miss the looks of disbelief she received from her classmates as Snape simply turned away, without taking any points or giving her more detention.

She winked at Draco out of the corner of her eye and he tightened his hand on hers before pulling away.

Ginny watched Professor Snape snarl at a fellow Gryffindor in his sudden fit of temper and covered her grin with the back of her hand. The whole being 'bad' thing did have its perks.

Harry was waiting for her after she left dinner that night to go do some homework in the library before her detention.

She rolled her eyes and walked past him where he leaned against the wall on the way out of the great hall.

"Ginny, wait…"

She shook off his hand as it touched her shoulder, and kept walking. "What is it with you guys today? First Ron, now you - maybe I don't 'like' being grabbed you know…"

"Ginny - "

"Leave me alone, Harry." She reached the stairs and started up them, only to feel him grab her arm and turn her roughly to face him. She glared at him and yanked her arm away.

He stopped on the step below her, and their faces were level with each other.

Ginny didn't think she'd ever seen him so angry. "What do you want?" she sighed impatiently.

"I want you to stop acting like a four year old," he snapped, his eyes glittering fiercely. "You're acting like a complete brat."

"What do you care? What do any of you care?"

"You're making Ron sick, acting like this!"

"What about you, Harry? Am I making you sick, going out with Malfoy? Is it just bugging the hell out of you?"

"Are you doing this just to get back at me? Is that it?" He looked at her solemnly; his voice more serious than she'd ever heard it. "Did I hurt you that badly, Ginny?"

The softness of his voice made her want to cry. The hard expression on her face faltered. "It wasn't you, Harry. Y-You didn't do anything. It was me, but I can't get past it. I've tried, and I can't - "

"Ginny, I'm so sorry…"

She closed her eyes when he reached up to touch her cheek-

"Better watch those hands, Potter."

Ginny's eyes flew wide open and she looked over Harry's shoulder to see Draco standing below them on the floor, his arms crossed.

She stepped guiltily away from Harry, and watched him turn on the steps to look at Draco.

"You shouldn't go around touching other people's property," the blonde boy said coldly, his pale eyes narrowed.

"Sod off, Malfoy. She's not a bloody possession."

"She doesn't want anything to do with you. For your own well being, I suggest you forget she ever existed."

"Maybe she doesn't want me to forget, Malfoy!"

"No? Looks that way to me..." Draco smirked.

Harry turned his head to see Ginny already at the landing, and disappearing up the next flight of steps without a glance back.

"What did you do to her?"

Draco laughed evilly. "What didn't I do to her?"

Harry walked away before he pulled out his wand and ended up murdering the boy right there in Hogwarts.

"Don't worry about it, Potter - she's in good hands."

Harry fisted his hands and kept walking.

Ginny looked up from her books reluctantly when Draco stopped by her table.

He met her eyes with a cold smile. "It's time to go - detention and all."

Ginny signed her parchment with a flourishing scrawl and dusted it before rolling it up and tucking it into her bag.

"Is it eight o' clock already?" Ginny cleared her throat nervously. She was waiting for him to call her on the incident on the stairs, but he didn't say a word.

"Very nearly," he said as he watched her gather her things.

"Oh." Ginny slung her bag over her shoulder and walked with him to the tapestry opening.

He was so quiet on the walk down to the dungeons that she wanted to scream.

_Stay calm,_ she told herself, _he's just testing you again._ _Don't give him the satisfaction of knowing he's getting to you. Stay detached…_

They walked in silence for a few minutes, and then she mangled it.

"So – what did Harry say?"

She watched his eyes darken and drew in a frustrated breath. That had definitely been the wrong thing to say…

"You should really stop calling him 'Harry'. It suggests a certain familiarity…and," he stopped to look her in the eye, "it's irritating me beyond the telling of it."

"Oh, all right, I won't call him 'Harry' anymore. What do you want me to do – run around trying to look down my nose at him and calling him 'Potter'?" It seemed ridiculous to her.

Draco raised a hand and wrapped it around the ape of her neck, tilting her head up to his. "I want you not to have anything to do with him, ever. Ignore him. Just cut him completely dead. He's just a distraction to you, Ginny, nothing more. Remember?"

She nodded slowly. "I remember. He's not the sort you can easily ignore, though. And I 'am' in the same house with him. What am I supposed to do during the Quidditch matches? Sit with the Slytherins?"

"Why not? You'll be cheering 'me' on when we play, anyway, not him." His lips curled and he dropped his hand, brushing her arm with the backs of his fingers. "Won't you?"

"I g-guess…" she shook her head and started walking again. "We're going to be late."

"Gasp, late for detention? Horror!"

Ginny arched a brow. "Malfoy – did you just make a joke?"

"It's Draco," he reminded her.

"Sorry – old habits and all."

"I do have a sense of humor you know."

"A nasty, deprecating, twisted, 'evil' sense of humor, yes,"

"See, Weasley, you're catching on – didn't take long, did it?"

"It's 'Ginny'," she pointed out again as they came to the dungeons at last.

"Right…first dibs on the dragon hide gloves." He held the door open for her and she walked through.

"What? Why would we need to wear – you mean he only has one pair? If I had known we'd needed them, I would've brought my own." She set her bag down on a desk and glared at him. "You could have told me."

He smiled at her disarmingly. "I could have done – but it wouldn't have been an 'evil' thing to do, would it?"

"Thanks for reminding me of just how much I don't like you, Draco," she growled.

"Always my pleasure, my sweet..."

-

TBC


	7. 7. Careless

**_The End Of The World_**

**Author **- Lee Velviet

_Edited/Revised 11/5/06_

**Chapter Seven** - _Careless_

-

Ginny frowned at the door. "Snape is sure taking his sweet time getting here. I know we've been here for at least twenty minutes. At this rate we'll see midnight before we get out of here."

"A pity, that. God knows you need all the beauty sleep you can get," commented Draco blithely from the other side of the classroom.

Instead of giving him an extremely offended look and retaliating, Ginny looked over at him. "Handy, you being on the other side of the room when you said that."

Draco boredly looked at her around the large glass jar he'd been studying the unbelievably disgusting contents of. "As if you'd try anything."

"After yesterday, you mean?" Ginny began pacing, feeling impatient. "I suppose you're the kind of guy who'd grab a woman's wrist in mid swing, and say something melodramatic like, 'You've already tasted the back of my hand, darling, shouldn't you have learnt by now, not to strike me?'" Ginny snorted. "Sounds like something out of those romance novels my mum is always reading."

"Well, I never accused your mother of being terribly classy," Draco murmured as he walked up to lean lazily against Snape's desk.

Ginny bit back a barbed remark and stared at the classroom door. "Isn't there a twenty minute rule, or something?"

"A what?"

"You, know, a twenty minute rule? If the teacher doesn't show up within twenty minutes, you get to leave?"

"Why am I not surprised you'd think of that?"

"It makes sense," Ginny argued. "Teachers are always spouting off about we're wasting 'their' time – well, it's really 'our' time isn't it? I say, if they can't show up on time, we should be allowed to hit the road."

"I'm sure Professor Snape would appreciate your opinion on the matter."

Ginny sighed. "I'm tired. I don't know why I'm standing here like a git, talking to you when I could be in bed." She glanced up at him and froze.

Draco ran a hand through his hair, his eyes hooded as he looked back at her. There was uncharacterisitc warmth in his sudden, lopsided smile that made her heart start racing. She'd never seen him smile like that…she found it very disturbing.

"Do you realize, that in the past twenty-four hours, you've twice used the word 'bed' and 'you', referring to me, of course, in the same sentence?"

"I – I did?" Ginny swallowed and backed away from him as he suddenly began advancing on her – she inadvertently backed into a desk and got trapped between his arms.

"You did," he said huskily.

She looked from side to side to find an opening from which to escape – but he had her stuck. 'Where the hell is Snape?' she wondered wildly.

His fingers caught her chin and he tilted her head up to look at him. "I have something to tell you, Ginny."

Her breath caught painfully, and she stared up at him. "What?" A hundred crazy possibilities rushed through her mind, only to be stopped by his sudden smirk.

"Snape's not coming."

"Snape's not – not coming?" Ginny's eyes widened in realization. "Snape's not coming."

"He had other business to attend to…he told me to tell you our detention has been moved to tomorrow night." Draco's eyes glinted wickedly.

"You rat!" Ginny put her hands against his chest and pushed him away from her. "I can't believe you!"

He shook his head at her. "Relax, Weasel – I don't have any designs on your body." He watched her thoughtfully. Well," he amended, "I might, but – "

"Shut up!" Ginny glared at him nastily and grabbed her pack from the desk near the door. "I hate you!"

"Oh, come on, you have to admit, it was rather clever of me."

"Clever? Wasting my time was clever?"

He shook a finger at her. "Uh-uh. 'Our' time, remember?"

Ginny growled and stomped out the door.

Draco caught up with her in the corridor. "What's wrong, Weasel? Feeling inferior?"

"Don't you dare refer to me as being inferior! Do NOT talk to me, Draco…I'm going to bed." She stalked down the corridor, her red curls streaming.

He had the nerve to reach out and grab her arm, and she felt an angry heat in her cheeks as he pulled her to a stop in the torch lit hall.

"That's three times now," he drawled, his face shadowed as he looked down at her.

Ginny made a strangled choking noise and cut her eyes at him.

He shook his head. "You just don't learn very quickly, so you?"

"Learn what?"

"You shouldn't trust me, no matter what I say." His eyes flashed silver as he tossed his hair out of his eyes. "I don't care if I tell you the sky is blue, it'll end up being green."

"Warn me all you like, Malfoy – I won't fall for anything you might do easily – don't worry about me. I'm not in this to be your 'friend'. I know what you're about – or do I have to remind you I've only had to put up with you since I was six years old?"

"What are you – oh. I'd forgotten about that." Draco said thoughtfully, amused.

"I'm not surprised. The amount of nasty things you do daily is probably mind-boggling. Well, I haven't forgotten. Do you know how long it took my parents to pay for those stupid 'x–rays'?"

"Well, if you hadn't dropped that bloody huge chunk of concrete on my foot, I wouldn't have had to get 'x–rays'…"

-

_The Past_

Ginny was sitting outside of Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor waiting for her mother to return from the second hand robe shop with Fred and George. Their first year at Hogwarts was due to begin, and she'd never seen her mum so happy.

She sat on a bench and swung her legs, and watched as several other children exited the Ice cream shop with huge peanut butter ice cream cones. She looked after them longingly and then looked down at the ground, feeling terribly sorry for herself.

"What's wrong Weasley? Can't your Mum even afford a measly ice cream for you once in a while?"

Ginny looked up at the sound of the cold voice and inwardly cringed. She stood up from the bench and stepped defensively behind a short decorative pillar nearby that came up to her waist – she watched he owner of the voice mutinously over the small plant potted in a concrete container atop it, her brown eyes wide beneath her fuzzy mass of red curls. It was Draco Malfoy. He stood before her with his arms crossed, a nasty smirk on his small, pale face.

"Leave me alone," Ginny said in a trembling voice. She twisted her tiny hands into the fabric of her pale blue robes and prayed he would leave.

"Aww, are you going to cry little Weasley?" The boys pale silvery gray eyes held an odd shimmer that reminded her of the opal on her grandmother's favorite pendant. She frowned at him, thinking how much she now hated opals.

"I'm not going to cry," she told him, lifting her chin. "You'll never make me cry."

"I bet I could," he said nastily, his eyes narrowed. "All I'd have to do is point out how ugly you are, with that horrid red hair and those huge freckles. Not to mention that rag on your back your mother calls a robe. The Ministry ought to take you away, you know - your parent's can't even afford to feed you all. I heard Father say it just the other day."

Ginny felt tears trembling on her eyelashes but refused to blink and let them fall - could the Ministry really take her away from her family? Of course not! Her dad worked in the ministry!

"Shut up, you don't know anything! You're nothing but a - a spoiled brat!"

"I may be a spoiled brat, but at least people don't make fun of me behind my back."

Ginny thought of her brothers and giggled. "Yes they do…especially about your name! Ron laughs every time he hears it!"

He looked at her with a sneer. "So he thinks my name is funny, does he?"

"Everybody thinks your name is funny, Malfoy."

Fisting his hands, he took a threatening step forward. "Say that when you're not hiding behind something, you worthless, ugly little weasel."

Ginny's temper flared. She watched the boy take another step, and heaved against the concrete planter hard enough to nudge it from its base – it landed with a thud on Malfoy's foot.

Ginny watched in satisfaction as the boy's eyes widened, and he grabbed his foot, hopping up and down, using words she'd never even heard before.

"You dirty muggle – lover!"

"I hate you, you – you -" her mind spun for a real whopper, and then landed on something she'd heard Charlie yell at Percy the other day - "bloody wanker!"

"Ginevra Weasley!"

Ginny froze as she heard her mother yell from behind her.

Draco looked up at her, a painful but satisfied looking smirk on his lips.

He commenced whining immediately. "I think you broke my foot!" Ginny's jaw dropped open in horror. He wouldn't!

He did. He even managed to summon up some crocodile tears for her mother's benefit…

-

"Your foot wasn't even scratched," Ginny muttered in disgust at the memory.

"How would you know? I'll have you know, it swelled up like a bloody balloon. It was the size of a puffskein."

"So, you mean it resembled your head."

"Well, your wit has definitely not improved since then,"

"What? You didn't think hearing an eight year old girl call someone a bloody wanker was witty," asked Ginny dryly.

"It just pointed out how very provincial your background was."

"It doesn't take much to piss me off, if that's what you mean," Ginny growled.

"You really need to learn some self–control."

"Again, you shouldn't be talking about self–control, Mr. 'I-hex–people–when–their-back's–are-turned'!"

"I was fourteen, and very sexually frustrated, for Merlin's sake," he suddenly snapped, his eyes narrowed. "I was practically a child – I can't be held responsible for something I did during puberty."

"Ew…" Ginny wrinkled her nose and turned away again. "Please spare me the details of your journey into manhood – I might actually become ill."

Draco watched her with a raised brow.

She shifted uncomfortably. "Stop leering at me, you dodgy prat."

" 'Dodgy?' I much prefer 'unprincipled, or even unscrupulous…that has a nice villainous edge to it, don't you think?"

"Yes…brings to mind greasy haired muggles with black capes and top hats, participating in much mustache twirling."

"I have absolutely no idea what you just said, nor do I care…I'm going to bed – Quidditch practice begins tomorrow you know. I have to get my rest."

"Yeah – you have to rest up so you can think up new ways to cheat," Ginny muttered beneath her breath as he moved away, and walked tiredly up the stairs out of the dungeons.

Hermione cornered Ginny before she even made it to the common room.

She groaned tiredly and slumped against a wall. "Why won't you people leave me alone?"

Hermione, her arms crossed, her nose twitching, paced in front of her, mumbling beneath her breath.

"Is something wrong?" Ginny asked, watching the girl shake her head.

"Wrong? Wrong!" Hermione rolled her eyes expressively, taking hold of Ginny's shoulders.

"Honey, I never thought I'd be saying this to you, but – you're an idiot."

"Nice to know what you really think of me," said Ginny wryly.

"You have to wake up – and as much as it grieves me to be the one to tell you this…I don't want to see you get hurt," Hermione looked down at the floor, and then looked at the red head with resignation.

"Malfoy is just playing with you, whatever it is he told you, to get you to turn on Harry and Ron like that, it's not true."

"I didn't 'turn' on anybody," Ginny said stubbornly, stepping away from Hermione. "They turned on me."

"Listen to me, Ginny – I overheard Malfoy talking to a bunch of boys in the hall outside of the potions classroom today. I had forgotten my notes, and gone back in to retrieve them – and just as I was about to leave, I heard them."

"What did he say?" She sighed boredly. "Let's see – could it be something along the lines of 'I'll get in her knickers and then snub her in front of the entire school"?"

"H – how did you know?" Hermione looked at her in surprise.

"He's Draco," said Ginny with cold simplicity.

"Ginny…what's happened to you? You aren't the same girl I knew. How can you not show any emotion over this? You're acting like stone statue."

"Thank Merlin for that." The red head sighed and turned away. "If you don't like the way I am, Hermione…well, you may just want to stay away from me."

Hermione helplessly watched her friend walk away.

"This has got to stop - you can't live without feeling anything, Ginny…you're only hurting yourself," she finally called after her, desperately.

"As long as I'm the one doing the hurting…well, see if I care…"

-

Ginny wasn't surprised to get a note from Professor McGonagall the next afternoon, requesting a meeting in her office.

The charming mask came to her easily, the lies to her lips effortlessly. She wasn't surprised about that either…

"Miss Weasley…while the school does like to encourage inter–house relations…I'm afraid I've been hearing some rather disturbing things about you and Mr. Malfoy of late…"

"What exactly have you heard, if you don't mind my asking, Professor?" Ginny sat forward in her chair, a sickeningly sweet smile plastered on her face. "Because I know common gossip is far beneath a Hogwarts teacher like yourself."

The woman actually flushed, and Ginny felt a part of herself grin gleefully.

"Er, well, Miss Weasley, I guess the details aren't important…" her eyes examined Ginny over her spectacles shrewdly.

"I'm just concerned, with all that you have been through lately…you do know Mr. Malfoy's reputation."

"Yes, ma'am…but if Draco had done even half the things people have accused him of, that'd make him, well…the devil himself. He's really not as bad you all think."

_'You should be ashamed of yourself',_ Ginny told herself scoldingly, _'lying to a teacher. You know very well Draco is just as bad – or worse even, than his reputation.'_

She inwardly shrugged off her pestering conscience.

"I'm worried he may try to take advantage of you, Miss Weasley, to be perfectly honest –

"We're just friends, Professor…who knows, maybe I'll rub off on him?"

The temptation of taming Draco proved too much for old McGonagall. Rather than warn Ginny away from him, she took a deep breath and picked up a peacock feather quill on her desk to run through her fingers thoughtfully.

"All right, Miss Weasley…just, please, bear in mind, teenage boys are rather – unpredictable. Be careful around him."

"I will, Professor – thank you for your concern." Unpredictable. Had it been so bloody long since the woman had been a teen that she'd forgotten just how 'unpredictable' teenage girls could be, too?

"You are dismissed then, Miss Weasley. Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, Professor."

Ginny walked out of the office with a cold smile tugging at one corner of her lips.

-

TBC


	8. 8. Over

_**The End Of The World**_

**Author** - Lee Velviet

**Chapter Eight** - _Over_

_Edited/Revised 11/5/06_

_-_

"You knew what was going on, Ginny…you knew you couldn't trust me. Nothing happened. Why are you acting so pissy about it?"

"You were just being you, you mean. I shouldn't take offense?"

"Exactly."

Ginny paused in front of Snape's classroom, turning to look up Draco with a deceptively calm expression.

"All right – I won't take offense, Draco. And I'm sure you won't take offense at my doing this."

Draco grabbed her hand before it ever reached his cheek.

She tugged it out of his grip, smiling tightly. "Wow, you must get slapped a lot."

"Actually, most people are smart enough not to try and bother," he snapped angrily, a dark frown on his face. "And you really need to work -"

"If I hear you blather on about self–control one more time, I'm going to throw up on those overly expensive leather shoes of yours," she said warningly as he opened his mouth.

He grimaced and stepped away from her.

"Thank you," she turned and opened the door, meeting Professor Snape's beetle black eyes as she entered.

"I'm sorry, I don't think there's been a word invented to describe just how 'ew' this is," Ginny mumbled later as she scrubbed ineffectually at the years of accumulated crust from spilled potions ingredients on the shelves in Snape's storage room.

"Eloquently put, as usual," Draco stated as he dumped a suspiciously familiar looking huge roll of shed snakeskin on a table.

Ginny looked at the rough, dry snakeskin and wrinkled her nose. "He actually went back down there for that? Ew. Again, _ew_."

"It's got amazing medicinal properties…I forgot, you actually saw the Basilisk, didn't you." Draco flipped an end of the huge skin and studied it thoughtfully.

Ginny shivered. "Saw it? I almost got killed by it."

"Right, and perfect Potter was there to save you, wasn't he? No wonder you fell in love with speccy git," Draco snorted and tied the Basilisk skin up in a sack, labeling it unenthusiastically.

Ginny drew back from her work with a disgusted snarl as he heart gave an unexpected raw thump. "Can we not talk about Harry, again? You say his name more than I do – what does that say about you."

"I won't even dignify that atrocious speculation with a proper answer, " replied Draco coldly.

"You know, they say the worst enemies make the best lovers," Ginny managed to comment straight–faced.

"I also have a lovely bit of the black plague in this tiny little jar just here in my hand, so keep talking," the boy retorted impatiently, tapping the lid.

Ginny bit back a smile and went back to scrubbing.

"Why can't we use magic, again?"

"It's detention, you twit – using magic would make it too easy – we're not supposed to enjoy it."

Ginny made a face at a pool of rubbery purple goop stubbornly sliding away from her best efforts to wipe it up. "I think we should be able to draw the line at having to 'chase' the mess," she said in irritation.

"You're welcome to come over here and translate," Draco said in a deceptively light tone. "Half of this stuff doesn't even have a label to begin with."

Ginny made a face and finally cornered the cowering puddle. "Well, I think 'this' stuff is in your jurisdiction,"

Draco sighed from behind her and walked up to look over her shoulder. "Well, that's just bizarre..."

Ginny watched the quivering mass almost sympathetically – until Draco took her bottle of stain remover and squirted it.

She almost could have sworn she heard a tiny squeal as the purple stuff melted away.

"Draco!"

"What? It could have been anything – didn't you learn anything in your first year? Hell, you're as dumb as a rock, and twice as thick! You aren't supposed to touch unknown substances." Draco moved back to his table and resumed labeling. "Besides, it was just plain foul looking."

Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes and went back to scrubbing with a vengeance.

"I'm going to be speaking Latin in my bloody sleep," Draco muttered tiredly as they finally left the classroom.

"Big deal, my hands are raw – I'll be lucky to pick up a quill tomorrow – oh, wait," Ginny groaned, pausing to lean her head and shoulder against a wall, - 'it 'is' tomorrow."

Draco stopped, leaning back against the wall next to her, and closed his eyes. "Wait -wasn't it Friday?"

"Oh, thank god," Ginny sighed, resting her cheek against the cold stone wall in relief.

"I have Quidditch practice in less than six hours."

"Good luck," she commented callously, and he opened his eyes and turned his head to glare at her.

"You know, it seems to me, you should be out there watching me practice, you know. Showing your support…or something."

"Oh, no - I'm not hauling my rear out of bed at six thirty in the morning to freeze on a bench and watch you practice chasing a little gold ball on a broomstick – been there, done that. Besides, I've seen you play, Draco – no amount of 'practice' is ever going to help. Why bother?"

"I could say something really cutting right now – but I think it'd come out in Latin and therefore wouldn't make any sense to your simple little brain," he mumbled, massaging the back of his neck. "Besides, wouldn't it just burn Potter's ass to see you coming to my practice instead of his?"

"Oh, all right, I'll come watch you practice," Ginny snapped, stepping away from the wall. "I'm going to bed – goodnight."

He caught her arm as she moved past him and pressed a long, hard kiss to her lips before letting her go with a smirk. "That's four."

Ginny stared at him breathlessly until he pushed her in the direction of the stairs, with a firm slap on her rear.

"Sweet dreams, Ginny,"

Ginny straightened her shoulders regally after a moment and marched away, her bottom stinging unmercifully.

Just when Ginny thought everything was going okay – the fates dropped another bomb on her unsuspecting head…

She rose reluctantly the next morning and dressed warmly to go and 'watch' Draco practice – and caught herself thinking about Harry instead.

It was disconcerting, going through the long forgotten motions of waking up early on winter mornings to go and watch Harry practice out on the pitch, feeling so in love with the dark haired boy that it actually hurt to see him-

Ginny shook off the memories – they were pointless. The feeling sorry for herself bit was so over.

She wrapped her scarf around her throat, and pulled on her gloves, walking out of her dorm and down the drafty stairs into the common room.

"Where are you going?"

Ginny had just reached the portrait entrance when the soft question was voiced.

Speak of the devil…

"I'm meeting Draco, all right? Not that it's any of your business," she snapped without turning.

"Don't go – just stay here, and talk to me for five minutes…"

Ginny bit her tongue and closed her eyes. "Just drop it, Harry. I'm not going to talk about this anymore. I'm tired of it. I'm not bothering anyone, I'm not hurting anyone, and I'm over you – so just forget I ever existed."

"You're hurting Ron…and Hermione."

Ginny dropped her chin to her chest as she heard him approach her from behind. A log snapped loudly in the fireplace, but that was the only sound she heard aside from his breathing as he stopped behind her.

"You're hurting me."

Ginny felt something inside of her burst open in a violent, aching flood of emotion, and she clamped a hand over her mouth to keep herself quiet as her whole body shuddered.

Tears began to flow from her eyes, and she took a deep, shivery breath, trying to get control of herself, but his next words made her lose her tenuous hold completely.

"Don't lie and say you're over me, Ginny…I know you aren't."

She whirled to face him, tears flooding her cheeks. "I don't love you, Harry – you don't know anything! It was a crush, a stupid crush – you said yourself, it wasn't real! So don't stand there and try to tell me that I still love you when you had my heart in your hands and you threw it right back in my bloody face!" She took a sobbing, broken breath and swallowed painfully. "You just can't stand not having everyone's adoration, Harry – you don't want my love – you just want it because Draco might, and you can't let him beat you at anything!

Harry shook his head at her, his hands fisted at his sides. "It's not like that Ginny, just let me explain –"

"Sod off!" Ginny shouted loudly, and turned away to rush out of the room.

Hermione, her eyes heavy with sleep, came down the stairs hesitantly, wondering who had been up and was making such a racket so early – and she saw Harry standing in the center of the room, fully dressed, his back tense beneath his familiar red sweater.

"Harry? What's wrong?"

He turned toward her, and her heart ached for the pain etched into her friends face.

"What happened?" She moved forward, taking him by the arms. "Harry?"

"I was awake…and Ginny came down," Harry shook his head, and he swallowed hard. "I tried to tell her Hermione, but she wouldn't listen – "

"Tell her what, Harry?"

He looked up at her beneath his bangs with shimmering green eyes so full of hurt that it made her want to cry for him.

"That I loved her."

Her breath caught in her throat, and she shook her head, looking at him closely. "It's just the amore potion, Harry – "

Harry stepped away from her with a harsh laugh. "It just might have been when I proposed to her, at least," he said dryly, moving to lean against the mantle and stare into the fire.

"What are you saying?" Hermione bit back a small smile as her suspicions were confirmed.

"I'm saying a love potion can't make you experience something you already feel, Hermione…"

She moved forward and put a hand on his arm, looking up at him. "You have to go after her, and tell her."

"She won't listen to me." Harry ran a hand through his hair and clenched it there against his scalp. "She doesn't want to."

"Why didn't you just tell her how you felt in the first place, Harry?" She asked quietly, still confused by the sudden turn of events.

He shook his head, his lips twisting in a bitter smile. "I thought it really was just a crush. I didn't want to put her in danger… she was so innocent - there were so many reasons', Hermione…and not a bloody one of them seems a bit important right now."

"So…what are you going to do, now?"

"Nothing. I'm going to wait." Harry turned away from the fire, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Wait for what?"

He shook his head slightly. "Wait for Malfoy to turn on her, like I know he will. All I can do is let her know I'm still her friend, and be there for her. Someone has to be there to pick up the pieces…"

-

Ginny made it out to the field early, and fell onto a bench in the stands to cover her face with her hands and cry herself into a puddle.

Of course Draco had to be the one to find her there, blubbering like a baby.

"Weasel, it doesn't look like you're cut out to be a Slytherin after all," he said disparagingly as he sat next to her, laying his broom aside.

"Leave me alone," Ginny muttered, intent on making herself invisible.

"What'd Potter say this time?"

"What makes you think it was Harry?" Ginny sniffed, as she looked up into his cold gray eyes.

"Who else makes you cry around here besides me?"

Ginny sobbed and threw herself into his lap, weeping unhappily into his Quidditch robes.

"Jesus, Weasel, you're soaking me," Draco complained…but she felt him stroke her hair hesitantly.

"Why won't he leave me alone? I get over him, and he starts going on about how he knows I still love him, and how I'm hurting him – I hate him!"

"Well, we both agree on one thing, at least," said Draco wryly.

"I - I told him, the only reason he's so upset is because I'm with you, now, and he can't stand the thought of losing anything to you," Ginny blabbed into his lap, her voice muffled.

Draco shrugged, becoming rather uncomfortable. "Of course he can't…"

"I'm not going through it again!" Ginny said angrily, and then finally realized where her head was.

She sat up slowly, and looked into his face. "Er…sorry." She sniffled, and tucked her hair behind her ear as she scooted away from him.

"Hey, go for it, Draco!"

"Yeah, lay one on 'er!"

"Are we interrupting something?"

Ginny's mouth fell open in horror as she looked down toward the field and saw the other Slytherin team members waving up at them.

Draco hooked an arm around her shoulders and drew her close, surprising her by planting a kiss on her temple. "I'll go take care of those prats…meet you for breakfast after practice, all right?"

"You don't want me to stay?" Ginny sniffed again, and wiped a tear from her cheek with her fingertips.

"I didn't think you'd want to…" A cold autumn breeze blew his hair into his eyes, and Ginny reached up and brushed it away. He caught her hand and pressed a soft kiss to the back of it…

"Malfoy, you pouf – kiss her like a real man!" Someone yelled obnoxiously from below. "Slip her some tongue!"

"Yeah – if you're gonna' drag us out of bed this early, and waste our time, at least give us a good show!"

"I'll pull your tongues out through your nostrils in a minute if you don't shut your bloody traps!" Draco roared finally, and then squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

Ginny stared up at him wide eyed. "Do you always talk to them like that?"

"Yes, because they're everyone of them as dumb as a box of rocks, and they always end up giving me migraines by the end of practice the useless wankers,"

"I thought you called me dumb as a box of rocks," Ginny reminded him with a grin.

"_A_ rock, Weasley, _a_ rock. I think I'm developing a headache already…"

-

In the entire history of Quidditch matches that ever took place at Hogwarts, never had a student placed in Gryffindor been observed cheering for Slytherin.

Or so Ginny had been told, rather repeatedly.

No one had known what to think that day when Slytherin and Gryffindor had their first match of the year, and Ginny had appeared sitting in the Slytherin stands, her scarlet and gold scarf and red curls standing out starkly against the sea of silver and green.

She'd walked right up to the seats with her head held high, and had ignored every nasty comment and dirty look thrown her way – and she'd known all the while the only reason she'd been tolerated was Draco had smoothed the way, so to speak – meaning, really, that he'd told everyone in his house to accept her, or he'd do something very unpleasant to each of them in turn…

Ginny smiled bitterly as she looked into her water goblet that evening at dinner, remembering the surprised, comically betrayed look on Harry's face when he'd rocketed past the stands on his Firebolt, and she'd been yelling Draco's name.

He'd been so busy staring at her, he'd almost run straight into the Ravenclaw stands – and Ginny had laughed.

She'd laughed…

And then her brother had thrown her a rather rude gesture across the stadium.

Her sudden grin more of a smirk, she looked across the tables at Ron, only to see him glaring at her with that rare expression their Mum referred to as 'that devil look'.

Ginny sent him friendly little 'wave' of her own.

Ron's face turned blood red, and Hermione frowned at her, a pleading look on her face.

She gave a little shrug, and turned her head slightly to look at Draco, who was relaxing next to her, looking entirely too smug.

"What are you looking so superior about, you little rat?" She asked in a murmur, clasping her hands around her drink.

"It's not as if you won the game, you know."

Draco sat up and leaned over slightly to speak into her ear. "The expression on Potter's face right now is worth losing one little golden snitch,"

Ginny didn't dare look over at Harry. She refused to be made to feel guilty.

" 'Seems to me you've managed to lose more than 'one' little golden snitch. But anyway, it's nice to see you have achieved one of your goals in life," Ginny told him sweetly.

"Oh, come off it, won't you? You're as happy as I am to see the little bugger made a fool of. Everyone knows you liked him – and now you're with me. Right now, Harry Potter is the most pathetic git in this school. I could die happy – almost." Draco crossed his arms over his chest, looking at her with glittering, considering eyes.

Ginny automatically shook her head. "No way- I don't trust myself around you." No, definitely not after the snog – fest they'd had that certain Saturday in the Slytherin locker room after his practice…

"You didn't even wait to hear what I had planned," he protested softly, a cunning gleam in his eyes, and she knew he was remembering that day as well.

"I didn't have to hear it – I already know – and the answer is no. Forget it, ferret boy, I'm not biting."

"Wouldn't you, if I asked you to?"

She fought back the shiver that rippled across her skin when his words brushed her sensitive ear.

"I'm sure Pansy would be more than happy to help you 'celebrate', Drakkiekins,"

Ginny whispered back, pinching the taut muscle of his side hard through his robes.

To his credit, he didn't jump or yell – but he did lower his hand, hidden beneath the table, to tighten threateningly on her upper thigh.

"You're going to have to pay for that, you know," he drawled, his fingertips reaching around to rub his side.

"I think I've 'paid' enough in the past two months to last a bloody lifetime," Ginny remarked with a steely smile, pushing his hand off her leg, trying not to feel regretful.

Draco sent her a look from beneath his lashes that made her heart race.

Ginny wished he'd go put that gunk back in his hair so she wouldn't constantly catch herself envisioning running her fingers through it.

"Do you know McGonagall actually called me up to her office after the game today?"

Draco shrugged boredly. "So?"

"She was about to lay into me about sitting with Slytherin instead of Gryffindor, when I very politely pointed out that there was no rule against it, and therefore, I was doing nothing wrong –an then she actually accused me of trying to incite a riot –would you believe it?" Ginny pushed aside her dinner plate disgustedly and frowned. "I was just sitting there, for god's sake...and of course, she's sending a note regarding her 'concerns' about me to my parents. I'll be lucky if they don't yank me out of Hogwarts and try to send me off to Durmstrang. Oh, the shame, the first Weasley to ever 'associate' with Slytherins."

"Well, you can be proud of yourself, Gin," he said lazily from beside her, one brow arched. "You've certainly done more than 'associate' with a Slytherin, haven't you?"

"Watch me blush and cringe," Ginny muttered wryly, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"You can still blush – that's a bad sign," Draco commented matter-of- factly. "I'll have to see what I can do about that."

"You 'need' to see what you can do about your team – they sucked. I had to close my eyes at one point – it's difficult cheering for the losing team, you know. I don't know if I dare show my face in my dorm. You know I actually think I saw someone with an 'I Hate Ginny Weasley' banner at the match…and somebody kept yelling 'traitor' at the top of their lungs…"

"Oh, I saw that – it was your brother," stated Draco with a too straight face.

"Thanks," said Ginny deprecatingly. "You're so comforting."

"I try."

"So what do you do when people are calling for 'your' blood?"

"Find something to blame on Weasley and Potter to take the attention away from me," he said carelessly, watching her with hooded eyes.

"And I bothered to ask," Ginny mumbled.

-

TBC


	9. 9. Dreams Do Come True

**_The End Of The World_**

**Author** - Lee Velviet

_Edited/Revised 11/5/06_

**Chapter Nine** _- Dreams Do Come True_

_-_

"What are you looking so sneaky about?"

Draco looked at Ginny as he pulled her up from her seat.

"Don't you remember what we were talking about earlier? About drawing attention from ourselves?"

Ginny bit her lip. "You're going to do something to get Harry and Ron in trouble aren't you?"

"Got it in one," said Draco laconically, grabbing her hand. "Come on!"

Reluctantly, she followed him from the Great Hall into the entrance hall, and then up the stairs.

"What are you going to do?"

Draco paused, and smirked nastily. "Actually, it's what 'you're' going to do,"

Ginny balked. "No way, I'm not falling for another of your tricks, Mal-ferret!"

"Must you keep calling me that? I mean, it's getting old – and for Merlin's sake woman, I've had my bloody tongue in your mouth – "

Ginny blushed despite her best efforts and he shook his head. "Really must do something about that…"

"I'm not hurting anyone,"

"I didn't say you were going to you thick headed twit – listen to me, it's very simple – "

Ginny listened, her doubts growing, and she backed away from him. "No…"

"What's wrong, Gin – are you afraid?"

She narrowed her eyes at his mocking tone.

Draco caught her wrist as she tried to turn away.

"This isn't about me – you were the one who wanted to be bad and all…" He looked at her smirkingly. "You 'are' scared, aren't you? You still love him, Potter…can't bring yourself to humiliate the speccy git, can you?"

"Leave me alone, Draco," she snapped, wrenching her wrist away. "I don't love him – I can't stand the sight of him!"

"I wonder…maybe the reason you can't stand the sight of him is because it hurts you too much to see him, and know he doesn't share your feelings – "

Ginny slapped him so hard she knew his ears had to be ringing. She backed away nervously, rubbing her bruised, stinging palm on her thigh.

He turned his head back to look at her his fingertips reaching up slowly to touch the red welt rising on his cheek.

She backed away further still.

Draco's eyes burned as they rose to look at her.

"You know," he began finally, "I was wrong about what I said a minute ago. You aren't scared – you can't be, after what you just did, again, after the warning I gave you before. You must have rocks the size of bloody bludgers…"

Ginny swallowed, and backed away another step.

"Where do you think you're going, Ginny?" He asked softly, a slight curl on his cruel lips.

She gritted her teeth, and stood her ground.

"Going to hit me back again, Malfoy?"

He crossed the distance between them, and grabbed the front of her robes in his fist, dragging her up against him.

"I wouldn't dare bruise you," Draco snarled in a soft whisper. "But that's torn it, Gin."

"W – what? What are you going to do?"

"You really think I'd hurt you?" His eyes hardened as he glared down at her. "You think I'd touch you in anger?"

Ginny swallowed. "Why not? You've done it once before!"

He actually flinched.

She bit her tongue as the anger went out of him, and he let go of her robes, thrusting her away.

"Don't talk to me about Harry, Draco – you have no idea what I've felt what I've gone through – "

"You're bloody blind, aren't you?" He whispered sharply, half turning from her.

"You think I don't know what you're going through? What it's like to love someone until your heart bleeds from it, and to know they don't return it, don't even think about it?"

Stunned, Ginny stared at his perfect profile, listening to the sudden pain in his voice in disbelief.

He turned to look at her again, his eyes burning fiercely in the torchlight.

"I could never hurt you, Gin…maybe before, but now…" he shook his head, and his silvery hair fell across his eyes as he spoke softly.

Ginny's heart fell to her feet. What was he saying?

"Draco –"

He walked past her, his shoulder pushing her aside. She spun to look after him, watching him stuff his hands into his pockets, ducking his head into his shoulders.

He looked – hurt.

Ginny shook her head. He was a terribly convincing liar. He actually had her feeling sorry for him.

It was laughable.

"I'll see you at breakfast,"

She barely caught the quiet, gruff words he threw back at her.

Ginny let herself into the tower, wondering at the small smile that had sprung up on her lips.

At breakfast Draco was pretending nothing had happened. It was business as usual – laughing at the Gryffindors, picking on Neville, sneering at teachers behind their backs…

He walked her to class that morning, snapping at her when she waved at Hermione, smirking at her when she had to pass Harry, and clamping an arm around her waist when the boy looked up to see them together.

Hurt and anger swept through his emerald gaze before he lowered his dark brows and walked on.

Ginny waited until Harry was out of sight to push Draco's arm away.

"That was cruel."

"Cruel for whom? I thought you hated him…as you so often remind me." He eyed her speculatively. "Or maybe you've said it so many times you're beginning to wonder…"

Ginny clamped her mouth shut and walked away from him, missing the stare he sent after her.

Another day done, or rather, very nearly done, Ginny corrected herself, as she neared the library. She still had to meet Draco after his practice – he'd promised to help her with the potions homework Snape had assigned.

She walked through the library tapestry to see Draco, still in his practice robes, sitting on top of a table in a far corner, talking to several of his 'friends'. He had his feet on a chair, and his elbows on his knees, his hands dangling between his legs.

Ginny's mouth nearly went dry at the sight he presented. She shook herself, and adjusted her backpack on her shoulder as she started to walk over to him.

Then the group of boys laughed, and she paused, still half hidden by a bookcase.

She watched Draco smirk, and whisper something that made his friends laugh nastily again.

A cold chill ran down her spine as she heard her name.

"Yeah, you should have seen how she jumped on me last night – I've still got the nail marks on my back to prove it," she heard Draco say smugly, and her jaw dropped.

"I can't believe she let you hit that," one of the boys said in awe, making the others laugh. "Seriously, she's cold."

"She was – until I got hold of her," Draco shook his hair out of his eyes and smiled unpleasantly.

Ginny gritted her teeth against the hurt rising in her chest, backing around the bookcase to hide from sight. Tears burned against her eyelids as she clamped them shut, and her knees gave out. She slid down to the floor, a quivering mass of fury and pain, every word that fell from Draco's lips stabbing like knife wounds in her back.

Why did she feel so betrayed? She knew full well what he was capable of.

'Because you fell for it, last night, she told herself dumbly. You fell for that act of his, and didn't even realize it.'

'God, you're stupid,' she thought, her heart feeling permanently bruised. 'You're the stupidest girl in the world, thinking he actually liked you."

'No, tell the truth – you thought he was talking about you – you thought he was saying he loved you…and you cared.'

Ginny sat there on the floor until she saw the Slytherin boys walk past and leave, the library going deathly quiet after their departure.

She didn't see Draco lower his head to his arms once he was alone, or hear the harsh curses he muttered under his breath.

Finally, she stood up, not bothering to wipe away her tears – she stepped around the bookcase, and walked up to him slowly, on shaky legs.

He looked up as she approached, the slight smile on his face falling when he saw her tears.

"Ginny – "

"You bastard." Ginny brushed her cheeks angrily. "You complete, utter bastard."

The sudden cool look on his handsome features seemed forced.

"I thought I hated Harry – but I don't think I've ever hated anyone in my entire life more than I hate you at this very moment."

A muscle twitched in Draco's jaw, and he pushed himself off the table.

"I'm taking it that you heard our little discussion," he murmured, crossing his arms and looking down on her.

Ginny barely managed a nod.

"Why so upset, Gin? I thought you knew how it was between us."

Her lower lip trembled, and she bit it, cursing the tears trickling down her face.

"I want you to listen to me carefully, Draco Malfoy – and I don't want you to interrupt." Ginny took a deep, calming breath, and narrowed her brown eyes on his. "I f I ever have to see you again, or talk to you again, outside of Potions, I quite believe I'll throw up."

"Ginny – "

"Answer me one question, Draco, though I'm a complete idiot for even asking it - did you ever feel anything for me? Or was what you were hinting at last night a complete act?"

She watched him, waiting for a long moment, but he didn't answer her.

"I guess I just can't turn my feelings off completely like you…if you ever had any to begin with. Well, I hope you had fun playing with me Draco – you won't get the chance to do it again."

Ginny turned away, but his voice stopped her.

"It has been fun, Gin…it's too bad you're too much of a coward to face what's between us…"

"I want you, Draco, I admit it – but I won't have you."

"I could very easily change your mind, Gin – but I really don't think I feel like bothering with you anymore."

Ginny forced herself to walk away.

-

Ginny stayed in the common room, on the window seat overlooking the lake until long after everyone went to bed.

She felt so badly she didn't know what to do with herself. So she sat and stared out that window, watching the sunset, and the moonrise, until it was near midnight, and she couldn't make herself move.

Her skin was chilled almost numb from the cool draft seeping around the windowpanes, and she wished it would do the same for her aching chest.

A large, warm hand settled hesitantly onto her shoulder – and Ginny's breath caught in her throat as she looked up and saw Harry looking down at her with a sad smile.

She looked away from him, feeling confused and ashamed.

He took her cold hand, entwining his fingers with hers, and sat down across from her on the seat.

Ginny hung her head, more tears appearing and dripping down her cheeks. Her thick red curls fell forward, hiding her face, and after a moment, she felt him push her hair back, and curl a finger under her chin.

She kept her eyes shut, unaware of the beautiful, tragic picture she made in the moonlight streaming through the window, unable to look at him directly.

"Don't you love me, Ginny?"

Her eyes flew open at his husky words.

Harry was watching her closely, the patient, open look on his face making her face crumple. She buried her face in her hands and turned away from him.

"But Harry – I…what I did…"

He pulled her back around, his hands tender but insistent.

"It never happened."

"W – what?" She peered up at him hesitantly, blinking.

He leaned down, bringing his face level with hers. She could the green brilliance of his eyes in the brightness of the moonlight, and the blue - black highlights in his thick messy hair.

He studied her intently, and brought her hand to his lips. "It never happened. None of it."

Ginny drew a ragged breath, and threw herself against his chest as she realized this was Harry's way of forgiving her.

Her heart nearly pounded its way out of her chest when he wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry I hurt you, Ginny…I had no idea how you felt – "

She shook her head against him. "How could you?"

"I just – I didn't realize, until that day you told me in the hall, how much I'd come to care for you…and it scared me. I was worried it was still just a crush, I was worried about Voldemort trying to use you against me if he ever found how I felt about you…I was worried about what Ron would say…when I came to stay with you last summer, the change in you made me feel horrible. You weren't sweet, shy little Ginny anymore. And then when I found out what you had done on the train – I went a little mad. I just kept thinking about how you had these kind, wonderful parents, and how I'd never even gotten to know mine…and that on top of the knowledge that I had driven you to it!"

"Then…I hurt you too. I'm so sorry, Harry…"

"I guess we're even then," said Harry with a small laugh, and she smiled wearily against his shoulder.

"I guess so,"

Ginny drew back from him, her face warming at the intenseness of his eyes as he watched her.

"So…where do we go from here?"

He shook his head faintly. "I don't know."

She bit her lip, and then reached up and tugged his glasses from his nose.

He stiffened a bit in surprise, but didn't try to stop her.

Ginny watched him squint at her slightly, his sharp green eyes softened and unfocused.

"Er…what are you doing, Ginny?" he asked, sounding nervous. He licked his lips, and she bit back a smile.

"Are you scared?"

"N – no." He took a shaky breath as she drew closer, and reached up to wrap her hand around the nape of his neck. He jumped at her touch, but didn't move away.

"Do you…do you love me, Harry?"

"After all this, you still have to ask?" He sounded amused. "Of course I love you, Ginny."

She pulled his head down until his lips were a hairsbreadth from hers, and closed her eyes. "Do you want to kiss me, Harry?"

"I thought you were never going to ask," he whispered, and proceeded to do just that, banishing everything from her mind except for the knowledge that it was Harry kissing her, at long last…and that maybe the world wasn't ending just yet, after all.

-

Draco stood in the shadows of the trees near the edge of the lake, looking up at the tower window, and the couple embracing in it.

He turned away, unable to watch anymore, and almost ran into someone.

"What are you doing out here this time of night, Granger?" he snapped fiercely, angry at having been found out.

Hermione Granger stood in front of him, a hooded cloak pulled tight against the cold night air. "You really do love her, don't you? Don't look so surprised. It was fairly obvious to anyone with half a brain and a working pair of eyes, you know."

Draco blinked at the bald words, and summoned up a grating laugh. "You must be joking, Granger. She's a Weasley – there's about as much chance of me falling for her as there is me falling for a stinking mudblood like you."

The girl ignored him, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I can't believe it. You're in love with Ginny – and you let her go. Why?"

Draco started to stalk away, and she spoke again, damn her.

"It scares you, doesn't it? What you feel for her?"

He stopped, and turned around, shaking his head at her, his silvery eyes and hair glinting in the moonlight.

"I don't love her, Granger. Don't try to cast me in a noble light. I'm not the victim here. The only reason Potter got her was because I didn't want her following me about anymore – it was getting downright annoying."

Draco turned away again.

"I don't believe you, Malfoy," called out Granger from behind him.

He ignored her and kept walking.

"Do you want to know why? Because you've lied so much to everyone else, you're beginning to believe your lies yourself!"

Draco set his jaw, smoothing his hair back from his eyes, and tucking it behind his ears. By the time he reached the entrance hall, he'd cast a familiar, icy shield around his heart, and had almost convinced himself it all had been nothing but a bad dream.

_Almost…_

-

**The End**

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**A/N** - Check out the sequel, _"Wish Today Was Yesterday"!_ One warning, though, it's not complete yet! - Lee

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